


Pinky and the Brain

by asiannoodles



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Comedy, Fluff, M/M, References to Drugs, Romance, Slight Age Difference, Swearing, Tutoring, hoseok is a Good Citizen, kihyun has a potty mouth, they're both hecking tsunderes okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-18
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-18 20:53:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12396027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asiannoodles/pseuds/asiannoodles
Summary: Kihyun is a pink haired delinquent and Hoseok is a college student with brains bigger than his muscles. There's really no reason why they should be associated with each other, except for the reason that Hoseok is tutoring him.Also known as, Hoseok stole Kihyun's weed and Kihyun wants it back.





	Pinky and the Brain

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jjokkiri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjokkiri/gifts).



Kihyun’s obnoxiously bright pink head of hair belonged nowhere near a library. He’d love to say that he was breaking some sort of stereotype by going to the library despite having five piercings on one ear and ripped up jeans, but really, he was exactly what his image suggested him to be. He was a self appraising, high opinionated, good for nothing highschooler. Nothing short of intimidating in his graphic hoodies and worn sneakers at his towering height of five feet and nine inches. 

Oh yes, people would shiver in their boots as he walked past. 

And it was very true that he belonged nowhere near this public library. It smelled weird to him and it was so quiet, he could barely think in there. But the library was where he went for his transactions with weed dealer. Right in between the shelves in the farthest right corner of the library was where he met with the best weed dealer in the area (the only weed dealer, actually.)

He did his best not to act suspicious when he sauntered in but his pink hair was probably a big red flag to anyone in there. Luckily the librarian here was easily swayed by Kihyun’s signature smile so he could get in without much suspicion. He was surprised she wasn’t more suspicious because he could smell his weed dealer from the other end of the library and he wouldn’t be surprised if he smelled of it as well.

“You got it?” he whispered when he slipped into the empty book aisle. 

His dealer stared at him with bloodshot eyes, sniffing as he nodded. “Yeah, I got it. You promised cash, right?”

Kihyun nodded as he pulled out a big wad of cash from his pocket and handed it to the guy. He took it with shifty eyes and reached into his own pocket, pulling out a little baggie filled with the devil’s grass itself. Kihyun’s eyes positively lit up at the sight of it, grabbing it and eyeing it excitedly. “This is the amount we agreed?” 

“Down to the exact gram,” the dealer stated. After Kihyun shoved the bag into his big hoodie pocket, he continued, “I’m going to head out now. You head out ten or fifteen minutes after me so it doesn’t look suspicious that two guys that smell like weed left together. Capisce?”

“Got it.” Kihyun nodded as his dealer slinked away and disappeared.

Kihyun belatedly thought that maybe he should have left first because now he was stuck in a library for at least fifteen minutes with nothing to do. And he couldn’t break out the weed here, not where he could get busted. He thought of maybe stacking up some random books onto the nearby cart when a boy with black hair wearing a gray hoodie caught his eye. 

_ “Oh,” _ Kihyun whispered under his breath, smiling to himself. “He _ llo.” _

The boy had pale skin and pink lips and big shoulders and honestly, Kihyun deemed him as a hot specimen of human. He had his nose stuck in a textbook as he leaned over with his elbows on his knees and a pencil spinning in his fingers. With a sly smile gracing Kihyun’s lips, he quietly walked over to the low table the other boy was sitting at and plunked down in front of him. The other looked up with a confused look in his eyes and Kihyun smiled.

“Hi,” he said, showing off his canines in a bright smile. “What brings you here?”

The other raised an eyebrow and looked down at his books and supplies. “Studying?” he stated as though it was obvious.

“Mm, how boring. Don’t you have better things to do?” Kihyun asked, an underlying implication in his words.

“Don’t  _ you?” _ the boy returned with questioning look.

Kihyun shrugged coyly. “Not really,” he replied. “But if you’re down, I’d love to do something with you. We should get to know each other.”

The other looked at him, unamused. “Listen kid, I don’t even know who you are.”

“Oh, right! The name is Kihyun,” he winked and continued, “but you can call me any time, am I right?”

The boy stared at him, his eyes half lidded as he stared at Kihyun. Kihyun kept smiling at him, waiting for him to respond with his name maybe, and a number. Anyone could tell that the boy he sat across from was more uninterested than anything but Kihyun didn’t really like no for an answer. So he bat his eyes a couple times and spoke again.

“Hey, come on, we should--” 

“I saw that entire exchange and I can report you.”

All the words in Kihyun’s mouth got stuck in his throat and he choked unceremoniously. “What?!” he snapped, his eyes narrowing and his jaw dropping.

“Yeah, that whole stint over there with the weed? Saw the whole thing.”

Kihyun frowned as he gaped at the boy across from him some more. “Okay, I change my mind, you’re not hot anymore! Forget the date I asked you out on, I’m retracting it!”

The boy shrugged as he stood up and began packing up his things. “Well, it’s not like I found you hot to begin with so I don’t really care.” 

Kihyun didn’t think his jaw could widen more than it already had as he sputtered out, “Ex _ cuse _ me?!” He stared at the boy in horror as he stood up and walked over to Kihyun.

The boy smiled at him and shrugged casually. He laughed at the way Kihyun glared up at him from his seat. “By the way...” he started. In one swift movement, his hand grabbed onto the edge of the plastic bag and snatched it out of Kihyun’s pocket. 

“Hey!” Kihyun yelled, ignoring the looks from annoyed students around him.

“If you’re going to do a weed exchange, you should hide your weed better,” he said with a small smirk, dangling the bag of green in front of his face. 

“Give that back!” Kihyun exclaimed, standing up promptly to try and grab his goods back but the boy was quick to pull it away from him.

“Mm-mm, nope. I’m not letting you leave this place with weed in your possession. You can forget all about that kiddo.”

“It’s  _ my  _ weed! I’m the one who bought it!” Kihyun scrambled to try and snatch it back but the boy in front of him just kept laughing. “And don’t call me kiddo!”

“You’re also the one who’s underage. You’re in high school, right?”

“What?! How do you--” 

The boy grinned. “Lucky guess, actually. But everything about you says high schooler.”

Kihyun’s eyes widened as his jaw slacked again. “Okay, who the fuck do you think you are?!” 

The boy smiled at him (so patronizingly that it made Kihyun’s blood boil) and replied, “I’m just a fellow citizen looking out for the little people--”

_ “Little people _ \-- I am almost as tall as you!”

“Now here’s what I’m going to do,” the boy continued, ignoring his outburst, “I’m going to give this to the librarian -- tell her I found it wedged in between some books or something” he shrugged “and you can get off scot free because I care about your future.”

_ “What?! _ Do you know how much I paid for that?!” Kihyun nearly shouted, ignoring the prying eyes of nearby students. “I paid  _ so  _ much for that, you can’t just take it from me!”

The boy began walking towards the front and Kihyun followed him with small fast steps. “You shouldn’t have spent all your money on weed then, isn’t that right?” he replied nonchalantly.

Kihyun frowned because this boy was absolutely infuriating and there was no redeeming qualities in him. Even if he was hot, he wasn’t attractive anymore now that Kihyun knew he was a snitch. He could do nothing but glare from a distance as this boy went up to the librarian and handed her the weed  _ (his weed! Kihyun’s hard earned, expensive weed!). _ The librarian took it with surprised eyes and thanked the other boy for his good deed. Kihyun sneered from behind a bookshelf because this guy probably got off on doing good things like he was a model citizen. 

The boy gave him another one of those infuriating smiles as he headed out the library and Kihyun followed him out angrily, shouting at him to stop because he needed to have a serious word with him. He only stopped when Kihyun stood in front of his car, stopping him from leaving the parking lot.

“You!” he exclaimed, slamming his hands down on the hood of the car. “You stop right here!”

The boy poked his head out of the window, raising an eyebrow at him. “Excuse me, I’ve got to go somewhere.”

“What are you going to do about the money I lost?!” Kihyun asked, glaring this boy down through his pink hair. “Do you know how much that cost?! How do you expect me to make that money back up?!” 

The boy stared at him for a moment, staring at how furious Kihyun looked and then he shrugged. “I don’t know, get a job?” 

Kihyun’s jaw dropped back open and in his small moment of offended shock, the boy drove away and left Kihyun in the library parking lot. He stood there,  _ disrespected  _ and  _ offended _ .

And in that moment, Kihyun clenched his jaw and swore that he would be getting his money back from that guy because that was  _ his  _ weed and  _ his  _ money and he wanted it  _ back. _

  
  
  
  
  


“I’m telling you, I don’t have any.” Kihyun sighed in frustration over the phone as his friend kept yelling at him. “It’s not my fault some loser stole the weed! ...Well, I can’t buy anymore until I get the money back.” He paused as he listened to the other end of the line. “I  _ can’t  _ buy more weed, I just told you! All the money I saved up was wasted because of some random prick who decided that he was too good for-- wait. Wait, hold on.” 

Kihyun stopped in his tracks and looked into the window of a pizza shop he was passing by because right there, behind the counter was  _ the  _ guy. It was  _ the  _ guy who stole his weed and his money. 

“Let me call you back,” Kihyun muttered into his phone. 

He pocketed his phone angrily and stormed through the glass door, stomping angrily up to the counter. The boy smiled that infuriating smile again.

“You!” Kihyun shouted, pointing his finger. “Again!” 

“Hi, welcome to Sookie’s Pizza, would you like a whole pie or just a slice?”

“I want my money back!”

“Oh, it’s you--”

“Fork over the money,  _ buster.”  _

“...I’m sorry?”

Kihyun glared at him, planting his hands on his hips. “Listen dude, I lost a good amount of money thanks to you and I expect you to pay me back. So hand over the money!” 

The boy leaned over the counter, raising an eyebrow and smiling. “Me? Hand over  _ my  _ money that I worked so hard to earn? Ooh, sorry but that sounds like theft.” He stood back up, wiping down the counter. “Besides I need to pay my tuition, so.” 

“It’s not  _ theft _ , it’s  _ capitalism  _ so give it up!” Kihyun yelled. “Or I’ll report  _ you  _ for theft” he squinted at the nametag adorning the boy’s lapel  _ “Hoseok,” _ he sneered.

Hoseok smiled at him as he leaned onto the counter again. “No.”

_ “No?” _

“No.”

“No is not the correct answer!”

“Sorry, still no.”

“I’ll end you,  _ bitch,” _ Kihyun hissed.

Hoseok snickered infuriatingly. “I’d like to see you try, kiddo.”

_ “Whoa, _ I am seventeen years old and I am  _ not  _ a kid!” Kihyun pursed his lips together and slammed his hands onto the counter. “Who do you think you are?!”

He chuckled and replied, “You said my name earlier already, didn’t you? I’m Hoseok. And also, if you don’t order something and keep making a scene, I’ll be forced to call my manager.”

With a frown, Kihyun just kept glaring at him in silence. Hoseok rested his chin on top of the glass that the displayed pizzas were under, his hands under his chin like he was some sort of rabbit. Neither of them made a move and Hoseok raised his eyebrows amusedly as he stood up straight.

“Okay, well, I’ll go get my manager--”

“Give me one slice of cheese,” Kihyun muttered. Then after a moment, he added quickly, “Oh, uh… you wouldn’t happen to have any pickles to add on… would you?” 

Hoseok snorted. “Who the hell eats cheese pizza with pickles on it?” 

_ “Me?!”  _

  
  
  
  


It continued like that for a while. Kihyun would storm into the small pizza parlor every day around four o’clock and order the same slice of cheese pizza with pickles. Then he would sit at a table in the corner and glare at Hoseok as he worked. Hoseok paid him no attention as he smiled at customers and cut pizzas into triangle slices. 

It made Kihyun absolutely  _ livid.  _

He would come in, demand his money and then order a pizza when Hoseok told him no so that he could sit and glare at Hoseok angrily. And they couldn’t call their manager because even though Kihyun didn’t eat it half the time, they couldn’t kick him out since he still ordered the pizza and was a paying customer. Sometimes he would just glare at Hoseok for maybe an hour and then go up to the counter and ask for his money back again. Predictably, Hoseok would say no, so Kihyun would slap his pizza onto the display glass and storm out, leaving the mess for Hoseok to clean. 

Hoseok had a good laugh every time he saw him and also a good tired sigh by the end. All Kihyun ever asked him was whether or not he’d fork over the cash for his failed drug endeavors. And Hoseok’s answer each time was no.

“You know,” Hoseok said one day as he handed Kihyun his cheese and pickle pizza, “I bet if you stopped spending your money on pizza, you’d have enough money to buy your silly drugs again.”

“Doesn’t mean you don’t owe me money.” Kihyun narrowed his eyes and snatched the pizza. He muttered to himself as he stalked to his normal table because he couldn’t exactly prove Hoseok wrong about the whole pizza thing. 

Kihyun was sort of hungry today though, so he started eating away at his pizza but without much appetite. He was here a little earlier today, it was around two o’clock in the afternoon and business was pretty slow. In fact, he was the only one in the entire pizzeria. 

He was just about finished with his pizza, eating the ends of the crust, when Hoseok came over and plunked down on the chair next to him. Kihyun furrowed his eyebrows at him and sneered as he leaned his elbows on the table and rested his cheek in his palm.

“What?” he snapped.

Hoseok raised his eyebrows at him and smiled. “Shouldn’t you be in school?” 

“Shouldn’t  _ you  _ be in school?” Kihyun retorted, shoving the rest of the crust in his mouth. 

“Nope. My lectures end before twelve because you know,” he nodded, “I’m a college student. Unlike you, who is in high school, and  _ should  _ be in school.”

Kihyun rolled his eyes. “And you  _ should  _ be working.”

He shrugged and gestured to the empty room with his arms. “You’re kind of the only one here and I’m in charge of tables. And Hyunwoo is working the register and wiping the counter today.”

Kihyun frowned at him. He picked up a packet of salt and opened it to spill its contents across the table. “Looks like you have to clean up that though, don’t you?” He grinned victoriously as Hoseok sighed and disappeared, coming back seconds later with a rag to wipe the salt away. “I hope you realize,” Kihyun told him as he finished cleaning the table, “that I’m not going to leave you alone. You can bet your ass that I am going to get my money back because you owe me  _ hundreds _ , whether or not you--”

“How are your grades?”

“The fuck?” Kihyun asked his brows furrowing. “What kind of fucking question--”

“Just answer it.” Hoseok sat back down next to him.

Kihyun raised an eyebrow at him and casually said, “Well, I’m here eating pizza instead of at class -- connect the dots, my dude.” 

“So your grades are bad.”

“More or less.”

Hoseok stared at him some more and Kihyun couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He looked like he was thinking and Kihyun wanted him to stop because he couldn’t stand how Hoseok kept staring at him without blinking like he was a lizard and--

“Here’s what I’m going to do,” Hoseok finally said, interrupting Kihyun’s train of thought, “I’m going to give you the money.”

“Holy shit, you’ve finally come to your senses--”

_ “If.” _ Kihyun raised his eyebrow as Hoseok interrupted him. He paused to raise his eyebrows at Kihyun to make sure he was paying attention and then continued,  _ “If _ you can get good grades.  _ Then  _ I’ll give you the money.”

It was quiet for a good twenty, maybe thirty, seconds as Kihyun stared at Hoseok like he had grown a second head. Hoseok smiled that stupid smile back as Kihyun’s irises narrowed and his fingers clenched. 

“I’ll even help you,” Hoseok added a moment later as Kihyun’s face twisted into an ungodly pout. “If you really don’t think you can pass your classes and get your money back, I’ll tutor you. But you won’t get your money back if your report card comes back with less than stellar grades.”

It might have been possible that Hoseok went deaf from the resounding  _ “What?!” _ Kihyun let out in anger.

  
  
  
  
  


“So then what happened?” 

Hoseok leaned against the pizza counter, smiling at he fact that Kihyun wasn’t present in the pizzeria at the moment.  _ Hopefully in school, _ he thought. “He told me to fuck myself, for one,” he replied and Hyunwoo snorted.

“And after that?” he prompted as he grabbed the pizza peel and walked to the oven.

“Then he stormed out really angrily while saying  _ ‘fuck you and your big ass brain, nerd!’”  _ Hoseok shrugged. “Can’t see how it was an insult since he called my brain big.”

Hyunwoo laughed out loud as he pulled out a fresh pizza. “That’s it? You finally scared off your drug lord stalker by telling him to study?” 

“Well, not exactly,” Hoseok chuckled. Hyunwoo placed the pizza on the counter and Hoseok went to cut it into perfect sized triangles. “Because one; he’s not a drug lord if he’s trying to buy the weed. And two; he stormed out and then came back to agree to the deal.” 

_ “Really.”  _ Hyunwoo raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Guess he’s desperate for the good kush instead of settling for the cheap stuff,” Hoseok chuckled. 

“Do you know how much money you owe him?” 

“I don’t  _ owe  _ him anything,” Hoseok reminded as he put the pizza under the display glass. “If anything, he’ll owe  _ me  _ for helping him get his life together.” 

Hyunwoo raised an eyebrow as he tossed another pizza into the pizza stone in the oven. “What if he paid hundreds?”

“He probably did pay hundreds.”

“And you’re going to have to pay him hundreds.”

“Yup.” He nodded.

_ “Hoseok,” _ Hyunwoo said, _ “why  _ would you make him this deal when the only thing that’ll come out of it is you owing some high schooler hundreds of dollars?” 

“Because I want him to become a functioning member of society,” Hoseok replied matter-of-factly. “Getting good grades is the first step towards reforming into a normal citizen and by the end of it, he’ll probably be so proud of himself that he won’t even  _ need  _ the money  _ or  _ the drugs.”

“So that’s your plan,” Hyunwoo deadpanned. “You’re doing this because you’re too good of a citizen.”

Hoseok laughed. “Yeah, something or other.”

Hyunwoo whistled as he rested his palms against the counter. “Wow, model citizen Shin Hoseok tutoring a below average delinquent? Some novelty shit.” 

“What can I say -- I live for helping others.”

Hyunwoo barely contained his scoff as he pushed off the counter and started rolling out more pizza dough. “So you’re going to see him again? Except the both of you are meeting willingly?”

“Yup. We agreed to meet so I could help him with some essay he says he needs to write for his English class. And you know, whatever else he also needs some help with.”

“Well, good luck with  _ that.” _

“Dude, Hyunwoo, let’s be real -- I probably don’t even need to tutor him,” Hoseok told him with a playful eyeroll. “You saw him. He’s your typical kid who thinks he’s too good for school but if I just give him some motivation -- in this case, his drug money -- then he’ll straighten up just like  _ that,” _ he said with a snap of his fingers. “I’m just paying some kid a few hundred dollars to raise his grades and if that’s not a worthy investment, I can’t tell you what else is.” He grinned and shrugged with his palms facing the ceilings.

“You’re such a saint,” Hyunwoo joked, rolling his eyes.

  
  
  
  
  


Hoseok agreed to meet Kihyun that Friday at a nearby cafe that he liked to study at sometimes because they had great oatmeal cookies. He didn’t have work on Fridays so here he sat, waiting for Kihyun to find him with hopefully some actual schoolwork to do. 

It wasn’t hard to spot his pink head of hair bobbing down the sidewalk as he stalked towards the cafe. Hoseok snorted to himself because Kihyun still looked angry as he tried to slam the shop door open. The door happened to have a pneumatic closer though, so even though Kihyun tried to slam the door open, it opened softly and slowly and the bell jingled sweetly as he stormed in. He spotted Hoseok quickly and sat down across from him with an annoyed look on his face.

“Why can’t I slam the door,” he asked.

Hoseok raised an eyebrow then pointed at the silver cylinder that was attached to the top of the door. “Because of pressurized air.” 

Kihyun turned to glare at it. “Stupid shit.”

“You should try and stop swearing,” Hoseok told him as he flipped a page in his textbook. He twirled a highlighter in his fingers and said, “It’s unbecoming.” 

_ “You’re _ unbecoming you sack of shit,” Kihyun hissed under his breath. “Look, are you going to help me with my school work or not?”

Hoseok shrugged as he made space for Kihyun’s supplies on the table. “I will if you let me.”

_ “God, _ you’re so annoying.” Kihyun’s hand came up to run through his pink hair in annoyance. “Anyways, the deal was that I get my money back if my grades are good, right?” 

“Yeah, that was the deal,” Hoseok said with a nod. 

Kihyun grinned deviously as he reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Well, get ready to pay up, bub,” he announced triumphantly as he unfolded it. “Feast your eyes on _ this!” _

Hoseok had to refocus his vision on the piece of paper Kihyun had shoved to the tip of his nose. “What is this?”

“My math test!” Kihyun said proudly as he retracted his hand. “I got an  _ eighty-three  _ on it so it looks like you don’t need to tutor me after all.” He closed his and chuckled haughtily like he was a rich man sipping wine from a glass. “Too bad, isn’t it? You’re just going have to pay up the money and-- Hey! Give that back!”

Hoseok snatched the paper from Kihyun’s hands, bringing it down to his lap to read it carefully. “What the hell, kiddo, you got the first five question absolutely wrong.”

“My name isn’t kiddo!”

“Wait a second… wait a sec-- this isn’t an eighty-three!” Hoseok looked up at him with a frown as he jabbed a finger at the paper. “It’s a thirty-three! You changed the three into an eight! You got thirty-three out of a hundred, not eighty-three!”

Kihyun was quiet as he shrunk back into his seat, his gloating bravado suddenly gone. He crossed his arms and muttered, “Okay, so maybe it’s  _ not  _ an eighty-three…”

“Well, I guess we’ve got a place to start,” Hoseok sighed. “We can spend today correcting your math test and then that looking at that essay you need to write, okay?”

“Yeah,” Kihyun grumbled. 

“Alright. Let’s bring out your work and we can get started.”

Kihyun was angry, very  _ clearly  _ angry, about this whole ordeal in the first place. But at the same time, he wanted that money back so he pulled his beat up backpack onto his lap and unzipped it, unceremoniously grabbing messy folders and a few notebooks and slapping them onto the table. “There,” he said. “That’s my work.” 

Hoseok smiled at him and closed his own textbook. He could finish taking notes at home but for now, this poor, unfortunate, below average delinquent needed his undivided attention and assistance. It felt good to be good. 

“Okay, let’s start with correcting this test,” Hoseok said, bringing the test back down to the table to lay it out in front of both of them. “Can you tell me what you got wrong?”

Kihyun squinted at him and then the paper. “Isn’t that what the red marks are for?”

“Well,  _ yes, _ but can you tell me what you got _ wrong? _ Like what kind of mistakes you made and what you still don’t understand.” He brought out a scratch piece of paper from his bag and set it down with a mechanical pencil. “We can go through them together.” 

Scratching his pink hair, Kihyun looked down to his test confusedly and pointed at the first question. “That one.”

“That one?” Hoseok reiterated and Kihyun nodded. “Okay, what about that one?” 

“What about it?” Kihyun asked. 

“What about it _ don’t you get?”  _ Hoseok said it slower this time.

Kihyun shrugged. “I dunno, the whole thing? You’re supposed to be answering the questions, not me.”

“I’m not supposed to be-- okay, nevermind.” Hoseok shook his head and cleared his throat. “Well, let’s see here… let’s see what you did wrong, okay?” Kihyun responded with a gruff  _ I guess _ under his breath and Hoseok pointed to the string of numbers that made up the first question. “So, let’s start with your first step. Did you solve the problem in order?” 

“Yeah, doesn’t everybody?”

Hoseok smiled a little forcefully as he circled the addition and subtraction signs in the equation as well as the parentheses and exponents. “Okay, what part did you start with?”

Kihyun looked at him strangely.  _ “Um _ , the beginning?” 

“The beginning of what?”

“The numbers!” Kihyun exclaimed. He leaned over to point at the first number of the equation. “I started at the beginning!” 

“Wait. Wait, no,” Hoseok laughed as he shook his head. “I meant what order did you start with? You know, like in the order of operations?”

“The fuck is that?”

Hoseok’s smile disappeared dropped from his face suddenly and his jaw slacked. “Order of operations? You know the order in which you have to solve a math equation? PEMDAS. Parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition and subtraction.” 

Kihyun only looked more confused as his eyebrows furrowed. “Why the fuck would I need to know that?”

“Because?!” Hoseok exclaimed, his eyes going wide. “Because that’s the order you have to do the equation in! You have to solve what’s in the parenthesis first--”

“What kind of order is there besides  _ in _ order?! Like from the beginning?!”

“Uh… the order of operations?!”

So maybe this was going to be harder than Hoseok thought.

  
  
  
  


After going through the initial shock of realizing that Kihyun was absolutely clueless, Hoseok was able to collect himself enough to outline an effective plan for how to help Kihyun. Kihyun was smart, he knew he was. Under that pink head of hair must have been  _ some  _ sort of intellect. He couldn’t truly just be a pothead all the time. (But then again, he might have already proven Hoseok wrong about not really being a pothead thing.)

They had ended their first meeting by going over the requirements for Kihyun’s essay that was important for his grade. Now a week later, Hoseok was going to be reading his first draft and he liked to think that he had a pretty average standard of expectations set for Kihyun. He didn’t expect any world changing paper, but he  _ did  _ expect something coherent.

But his expectations were clearly too high or something, because when he read Kihyun’s first draft, his first instinct was to slap his hand onto his forehead. 

“Kid, did you even try?”

“Of course I tried.”

Hoseok rubbed his brow tiredly and said, “You can’t use dude in an essay, kiddo.” 

Kihyun frowned and crossed his arms with a huff. “First of all, I have a name. And second of all -- how was I supposed to know that?!”

“It’s common knowledge!”

“Obviously, it’s not common if _ I  _ don’t know it,” Kihyun replied back, kicking his legs up onto the coffee table only to have Hoseok smack them off. 

“Where’s your thesis?”

“My what?”

“Good _ lord,”  _ Hoseok muttered under his breath. “And what did I say about handwriting papers last week? You can’t handwrite them,” he admonished as he held onto the single page of binder paper Kihyun had handed him. “You have to type them. When is this due?”

Kihyun looked up to the ceiling in thought. “Uh… tomorrow?”

_ “Tomorrow?!” _ Hoseok choked. Kihyun stared at him with a look of disgust as he truly choked on his spit and the complete academically challenged anomaly that was Yoo Kihyun. “Kihyun, you have to type this up and format it correctly and--!”

“I can’t type it up!” Kihyun groaned, exasperated. Hoseok felt confused because in what right did Kihyun have to feel exasperated when all he did was scribble over a piece of binder paper? 

“And why is that?”

“I told you! I sold my laptop to buy drugs!” he exclaimed.

Hoseok massaged his temples, muttering to himself that maybe he should just give this walking disaster his drug money because he wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything else. But then he quickly reprimanded himself and reminded himself that he was doing this so that Kihyun could have a good and stable future because he had to a be bright kid somewhere underneath his bright hair.

So that was how he found himself dragging Kihyun to the library in the late afternoon instead of studying in the coffee shop like he hoped. Kihyun’s face immediately grimaced when he walked through the sliding glass doors of the library and he groaned.

“Why am I back here?” he asked with a sneer. “I thought we were going to study.”

“We are,” Hoseok said, guiding him buy the small of his back towards tables filled with desktop computers.

Kihyun frowned as he smacked Hoseok's hand away from him. "Don't bring me here unless it's for drugs, asshole. This is like rubbing salt into my fresh wounds."

"Knowledge will become the band-aids and effort will be your ointment. What's left will just be some scars of your past."

Hoseok beamed at his own words and pretended that Kihyun wasn't sending him the dirtiest of looks. "Holy shit," he muttered, "do you ever shut up?"

Hoseok smiled at him and pat his head. "Unfortunately, no. And also, don't swear in a library."

"Fuck you."

He ignored that last bit and had Kihyun sit down at a desktop. The computer was big and bulky and probably too slow for anything except writing papers and doing minimal Google searches. Kihyun didn't look impressed.

"Okay," Hoseok said. "I'm going to study across from you while you type up your paper."

"I--"

"Type up your paper and fill it with actual relevant evidence and arguments. It's only a five paragraph essay, you should be done before the library closes."

"How do I sign in?"

"With your library card-- actually, no, you probably don't have one of those, I'll use my own credentials."

Kihyun pouted as Hoseok reached down over his shoulders to type in his library card information. "God, I hate the library. It reeks of nerds and grandmas." He sneered at Hoseok's bicep next to his face and muttered, "Why are your arms so big, isn't all you do study?"

Hoseok snickered. "It's all the books I carry. Those are the weights that get my arms so big."

"Gross."

"Gross?"

"Yeah, gross. What kind of nerd is as bulked up as you are? It's an imbalance." Kihyun rolled his eyes. "Your biceps are like the size of my head."

"They're not."

"Okay well, they might as well be. You look at all these nerds here and none of them are as bulk as you." Kihyun gestured to the entire library before raising an eyebrow at Hoseok. "Maybe you're a fake nerd. Maybe you're not as smart as you think you are."

Hoseok clicked his tongue. "And this is because I have a better build than you?"

"What--! I didn't say anything about  _ my  _ build, you absolute asshole. Bringing me into everything, you're so annoying."

"Well, then I don't see how you would assume I am a fraud-- okay, what the heck--"

Hoseok's sentence cut short when Kihyun turned his head and buried his nose into his sleeve. He took a long whiff before Hoseok yanked his arm away. Kihyun looked up at him curiously and Hoseok had half a mind to smack his head right there.

"You don't smell like a grandma," Kihyun said matter-of-factly. "You smell pretty nice, actually. And everyone here smells like grandmas and you don't, so maybe you're not as good as you say you are, huh?"

Hoseok's forehead creased in confusion. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know, what does it mean, hm?" Kihyun sang annoyingly. "You're the nerd here, not me."

"You know, if you could use that kind of critical thinking for writing your paper, you probably could have finished it already."

"God, shut the fuck up."

Hoseok just shrugged and sat down across from him to work on his own studies. He figured he got a lot done, with how much work he finished just sitting there. It felt nice to accomplish his next week's worth of readings and notes.

So about ten minutes before closing, he closed all of his text books and packed his bags and then went to check how close Kihyun was done to finishing. But when he looked over to his screen, Kihyun maybe had half a paragraph fully formed.

"Kihyun!" Hoseok exclaimed, his eyes going wide in shock. He clicked around to see if Kihyun secretly had another document open or some hidden pages filled with words but there was nothing. "Kihyun, have you just been sitting here?!"

Kihyun looked up at him nonchalantly, his legs propped on the desk as he scooted his rolling chair back and forth. "Yeah, a little."

"You barely have an intro written! Kihyun, honestly, this is not that difficult."

Kihyun frowned up at him, his lips pressed into a line. "Writing is hard! If it's so easy, why don't you write it for me, hm?"

Hoseok sighed. "Kihyun, if I do your work then I get to keep your money."

_ "El diablo..." _ Kihyun grumbled under his breath.

"What?"

"It means the devil in Spanish, I thought you were fucking smart."

"Did you just sit here looking up drug dealers?"

Kihyun's face broke into a coy grin. "How did you know?" he whispered. "Well actually, the wi-fi here is too slow to actually look up anything useful so I only  _ tried  _ to."

Hoseok rolled his eyes and checked his watch (to which Kihyun muttered, "Who even wears watches anymore, isn't that what phones are for?") and he sighed. "Okay, well, since it's due tomorrow, you've got to finish it somehow and the library is about to close -- I guess you can e-mail that to me and we can go back to my house and finish it."

At that Kihyun let out a dramatic, obnoxious gasp and covered his mouth with his fingers. Hoseok was about to ask what his absolute shit eating grin was for before Kihyun let out a devious giggle.

"You can't take me home! I'm only seventeen!" he exclaimed, an offended look playfully crossing his features.

And Hoseok could only sigh and rub his temples.

  
  
  
  
  


"I hate you."

"Well, you said it yourself, I can't take you home because you're only seventeen. A minor!" Hoseok told him matter-of-factly.

"I  _ hate  _ you!" Kihyun hissed.

They sat outside of Hoseok's house, right on his porch in the cold night air. Kihyun sat with Hoseok's laptop on his legs as Hoseok sat next to him and helped him finish his essay. It turned out that Kihyun was somewhat okay at writing once someone was there to make sure he stayed focused and on topic.

"It's freezing, Hoseok, can we please go inside?"

"Yeah let's-- oh, wait." Hoseok pouted and pet Kihyun's head. "You're  _ just  _ seventeen. I can't bring someone like you into my adult-twenty-one-year-old house."

"You're so  _ annoying," _ Kihyun whined. He shivered and his teeth clacked. "Hoseok, I'm going to die!"

"You have the heat of literacy and research keeping you warm."

Kihyun looked at him with such confidence that he had come from another planet, Hoseok almost laughed. But instead he stifled it and just watched Kihyun begin his second to last paragraph with an angry pout.

"It's so cold," he muttered angrily as he punched the keys.

Hoseok tsk-ed and said, "Well, maybe if you didn't spend all your money on drugs, you would have your own laptop instead of having to sit outside my house using mine." He shrugged. "Your loss."

"You are making me write an essay while sitting the freezing cold with nothing but a t-shirt and jeans -- this is child abuse!" he shouted, kicking his legs like a baby throwing a tantrum.

"Okay, but you're not my child."

"Good thing too, or I would have called child protective services already." Kihyun shivered. "You absolute monster."

Hoseok snickered at him. "I'm not cold, so I don't see what you're complaining about."

"First of all!" Kihyun yelled. "You're wearing a sweater! Do you see sleeves on me?! And secondly, you're bulk. You have muscles keeping you warm."

"That's... not really how muscles work."

"Yeah, okay, whatever, shut up I'm trying to finish this  _ damned  _ essay so I can go home and get under my bed covers which are  _ warm." _

"I would offer you my bed but you know, you're a minor."

"Shut  _ up,"  _ Kihyun groaned.

Hoseok watched him write the essay for a little longer before a notification box popped up on his laptop, informing the two of them that there was only five percent of battery left. Kihyun's eyes lit up hopefully.

"We have to charge your laptop before I can finish so can we go inside?"

Hoseok stood up and took the laptop into his hands, shaking his head. "Nope, you're only seventeen! So wait here while I charge it for a bit and then we can work on your conclusion together."

Kihyun's face fell into a frown as he crossed his arms and hugged his knees to find any or some ounce of warmth as Hoseok went inside his house. "Stupid twenty-one-year-old," he muttered. "Why are adults so lame? He's so fucking lame."

"Language!" Hoseok called from inside his house.

Kihyun rolled his eyes. "Don't you have an extension cord or something to bring your charger out here?!" he shouted.

"Nope, my housemate kind of took that when he went home for the weekend."

"Who the fuck takes home an extension cord?"

Hoseok laughed. "Should ask him if you ever see him here."

"Like I'm ever coming back here," Kihyun said. "This place is a hell hole. It's cursed. The devil's home."

"You calling me the devil again?"

"Yes."

Hoseok snickered as he came back outside with a big hoodie in his arms. "You're not exactly an angel yourself." He tossed Kihyun the hoodie. "Take this."

"The fuck is this?" Kihyun asked, holding it out in front of him. It was a university sweater -- presumably Hoseok's. "This is so big."

"I can take it back--"

"No!" Kihyun snapped. He slipped the big, maroon hoodie over his head and pulled the sleeves over his fingers. His face visibly relaxed now that his arms were covered and warm. The edges of the sleeves fell well past his hands and he looked up at Hoseok. "You're huge."

Hoseok made a face. "Am not," he retorted as he sat back down next to Kihyun. "I'm just bulk, remember?"

"Hm, I guess," Kihyun whispered. He hugged himself in the big hoodie and Hoseok thought he looked like he was swimming in it. It was kind of cute in a way, if Hoseok looked past his annoying personality.

"So," Hoseok began as he sat down. He opened up a bag of animal crackers he brought out and offered some to Kihyun. "How much of your homework actually requires typing?"

Kihyun shrugged as he threw a few in his mouth. "To be honest -- most of it. I thought I would be fine if I just wrote it up and handed it in though because I still did the work, right?"

Hoseok shot him a look. "You know, I've had teachers fail me for not following their format before."

"Really?" Kihyun asked, his eyes wide. "That sounds dumb."

"I suppose," Hoseok chuckled. Then he raised an eyebrow at Kihyun and said, "You know what that means, right? That means we're going to have to spend a lot of time at the library so you can type up your work."

Kihyun groaned and slumped against Hoseok's house. "Why can't you just bring your laptop around and have us work somewhere else?"

"Because you need to get acquainted with the library anyways." Kihyun opened his mouth and Hoseok interrupted, "And not for drugs."

Kihyun pouted and crossed his arms and the sweater just seemed to eat him up. He looked rather cuddly for someone who thought he was menacing.

"Also," Hoseok added, "I need your address because it's late and I probably need to drive you home. That reminds me, do your parents mind that you're out so late?"

Kihyun gave him a glance and then looked away. "I don't live with my parents. I live with my grandma."

It was suddenly quiet and Hoseok felt that the crackers in his hand were too heavy. He licked his lips awkwardly and said, "Oh. Sorry to hear that--"

"Nah, don't be," Kihyun said with a wave of his hand. "It's better this way. And besides, I love my grandma."

"Your grandma doesn't care that you smell like weed?"

"I don't smell like weed!" Kihyun snapped. He huffed and pulled his sleeves tighter around his body. "And my grandma would love me either way! Whether or not I smell like weed!"

Hoseok smiled at him and handed him another animal cracker. "I'm sure she does. Just tell her that you're going to spend a lot of time with me from now on."

Kihyun gasped. "Me, a minor, spending all this time with an adult university student?! How  _ scandalous." _

Hoseok frowned, that familiar pulsing returning to his temples as he yanked his animal crackers away. "I'm going to take my sweater back."

"No!"

  
  
  
  
  


Kihyun ended up keeping Hoseok's sweater, whether Hoseok intended that or not. He wore it quite often to class to the surprise of most of his classmates because Kihyun usually didn't show up to class.

"You're wearing that again?" Minhyuk asked him. Minhyuk was one of his only friends in the school who didn't also consume some type of drug.

Kihyun shrugged as he sat down. "Yeah, it's warm. And it's been getting cold out."

"You've worn that sweater for the past, like... three weeks," Minhyuk said. "And it's way too big for you. Shouldn't you get it hemmed or something?"

"I shouldn't," Kihyun replied, looking at the long sleeves and how they fell past his fingertips. "It's not mine, so I probably shouldn't alter it before I return it."

"Not yours--?" Minhyuk's face suddenly grew a coy smile as he leaned over. "Hm," he sang, "did you get that from a boy?"

"What? I mean I guess--"

"A boy _ friend?" _

"Minhyuk, no! He's just some dumb guy who owes me money!" Kihyun immediately snapped.

Minhyuk stared at him for a bit more before shrugging. "Eh, worth a shot."

Kihyun rolled his eyes as his teacher approached him, placing some returned work on his desk. "Yoo Kihyun," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Not bad."

Kihyun looked down at his sheet of math questions and nearly let out a gasp because on the top right corner, a giant D+ was marked in red marker along with the words  _ Nice Improvement! _

Kihyun wasn't usually giddy over things over grades, but for once he felt a little proud inside. Maybe the tutoring was paying off or something.

  
  
  
  
  


"So, tell me about yourself."

Hoseok looked up from his textbook and stopped twirling his highlighter in his fingers. "Hm?"

Kihyun rolled his eyes as he closed his notebook. His handwriting was getting better, Hoseok noticed. "Tell me," he repeated, "about yourself. I don't know anything about you, my dude."

Hoseok raised an eyebrow and slowly replied, "Well... alright. My name is Shin Hoseok, I'm twenty one years old and I'm currently tutoring this mess of a high schooler."

Kihyun made a face. "That's it? That's all you've got? You're so lame."

"Shut up, you're the one who gets weed from a library."

"Yeah, but I don't go around snitching on people," Kihyun replied. "Unlike a certain upstanding citizen."

Hoseok beamed. "You mean me?"

"Who the fuck else?" Kihyun grumbled to himself under his breath as he went back to writing down some equations. "You know, when we went to the library yesterday, the lady at the front desk looked high."

"Kihyun--"

"You gave her my weed, you monster! She's probably hooked now also!"

Hoseok rolled his eyes. "Kihyun, you can't possibly think the librarian is getting high off of your weed."

Kihyun glared at him. "Well, I wouldn't have to wonder if I had my weed, now would I?"

"Let it go, Kihyun. You're not getting that weed back."

"Fuck you."

"I didn't even insult you!"

"Still, fuck you!" Kihyun sighed as he slammed down his pencil and massaged his head. "I can't believe you study this much on a daily basis. How does your brain not explode."

"My brain is big enough to handle it."

"Nerd."

"I am."

Kihyun scrunched his nose at him as if it was supposed to look menacing. But with his pink hair and giant sweater on, he just looked like a child. "Fuck you," he muttered under his breath again.

"Kihyun, you gotta stop swearing so much."

"Make me."

Hoseok threw up his hands sarcastically. "You're right, I can't make you. You'll never stop swearing and you'll never get good grades."

Kihyun glared at him sharply. "Fuck you, don't tell me what I can and can't do."

Hoseok glanced over at his notebook and said, "Well, I  _ can  _ tell you that you  _ can't  _ divide by three in that equation."

"Stop it!" Kihyun slammed his notebook shut and slapped his hand on top of it. "Listen, my brain is actually about to combust. I have done nothing but study ever since you took my money and we meet nearly three times a week. You make me study until the sun sets."

Hoseok raised his eyebrow as he leaned back into his chair. "And what are you implying with this?"

"Hoseok! It's been a month and a half! I need a break! I'm begging you!" he exclaimed. "This is no fun!"

"What? But this is the most fun I have ever!" Hoseok said. Kihyun gave him a dirty look. "I mean it! Studying is a lot of fun, look at all the stuff you learn."

"You're such a fucking nerd!"

Hoseok smiled and shrugged. "Hey, I find joy in learning. But maybe you're right -- you deserve a week off. After all, you got a solid C- on your last math test."

"Exactly!" Kihyun exclaimed, something akin to happiness actually lighting up in his eyes. "So next week then? We'll have a free day?"

"I don't see why not," Hoseok replied with a light tilt of his head. "And I'm starting to get swamped with midterms so next week will be a good week off for me."

"When are your midterms done?"

"Thursday, I think?"

Kihyun nodded. "Cool. We'll do something on Friday."

"What?" Hoseok furrowed his eyebrows. "Why do you need me on your day off?"

"So I can show you what actual fun is, you shit!" Kihyun exclaimed.

Hoseok snickered. “As long as we’re not doing anything illegal,” he sang.

“Holy fuck, do you ever stop saying crap?” 

  
  
  
  
  


“This doesn’t seem like a good way to spend a day off.”

“Shut up.” 

Hoseok had just finished his last midterm the day before and Kihyun wasted no time to show up to his doorstep early Friday morning, ready to take him out on a fun day. Hoseok was more than exhausted from a full week of midterms and seeing Kihyun’s annoying face in the morning didn’t exactly help, but Kihyun was so insistent on taking him out, he had pulled on some messy clothes reluctantly and followed Kihyun with a strong tumbler of coffee in his hands.

And now they were raiding the nearest convenience store for… for what? Kihyun had been looking at all the ice cream bars and scouring the wall of soft drinks for the past half hour without picking anything out.

“Please tell me why we’re here,” Hoseok mumbled, rubbing his eyes. He still wasn’t quite awake yet.

Kihyun clicked his tongue, shushing Hoseok with a wave of his hand as he said, “We’re just getting started. We need important supplies from here.”

“You’ve been looking at soda and candy for like, ten minutes already--”

“Shhh, I’m looking still.”

Hoseok sighed and sipped some more of his coffee, which was now becoming lukewarm and hard to drink. There was nobody in the store aside from them and a middle aged cashier who also looked like he didn’t want to be there. Massaging his temple, Hoseok squeezed his eyes shut. 

“Dude, can you just choose whatever you want and hurry up? I know you think we have all day but we really don’t.”

“And why is that?” Kihyun hummed mindlessly. “It’s a Friday, we’ve got all the time we want.”

Hoseok was about to roll his eyes and tell Kihyun that even though it was a Friday, they couldn’t spend all day in a convenience store but felt his words get caught in his throat when he watched Kihyun pocket a candy bar. He let out a gasp and smacked Kihyun with his free hand.

“Kihyun!” he hissed. “That is stealing!”

Kihyun brushed his hand away and made a face. “I know what it is! That’s the whole point!” He smiled coyly and tossed a candy bar to Hoseok also. “I told you we were going to have fun today.”

“Stealing!” Hoseok gaped as he shoved the candy bar back. “Stealing is not fun! Stealing is against the law!  _ The law, _ Kihyun!” 

“We’re not even stealing something big, they’re just candy bars.”

Hoseok’s eyes were wide and buggy and Kihyun figured he must have been wide awake now. “Stealing is stealing! I’m not stealing from this poor man!”

Kihyun looked to the cashier who was reading a newspaper with his eyes glazed over. Rolling his eyes, he muttered, “Listen, this guy doesn’t even care if you shoplift. You just walk out with your pockets full of candy and you’re scot free.”

"You mean to tell me," Hoseok gasped, "that you take advantage of this man on a near daily basis?!"

"I never said any shit like that," Kihyun snapped. "It's only once in awhile anyways when I really want to have some fun."

Hoseok shook his head adamantly. "No. You will not get me to steal for sport from this poor man."

"Please, he's not poor, he actually has a giant trust fund, his parents just want him to have a job."

"Kihyun--!"

"Come on, don't be a little bitch, just pocket the damn thing and we can move on with our day."

"Don't call me a bitch--"

"Plus, this is my day, as in _ my day off,  _ that  _ you  _ are joining  _ me  _ in. So you have to do what I say."

Hoseok frowned as Kihyun shoved a pack of candy into his hoodie pocket. Hoseok's hoodie pocket. "Kihyun, do not steal using the sweater I gave you."

Kihyun scowled at him. "Don't tell me what to do."

"Bro, I-- stop! Get those out of my pockets!"

Kihyun shoved more gummies into Hoseok's pockets despite his protests and said, "Listen, we have to make a break for it soon, okay? I think the cashier is getting suspicious."

"I thought you said he didn't care!"

"He doesn't!" Kihyun insisted under his breath. "He's just... required to report me if he catches me, you know--"

"Kihyun!" Hoseok exclaimed. He ducked behind the candy display as the cashier glanced at them confusedly. "Kihyun, we cannot steal!"

"Sure we can," Kihyun told him confidently. His eyes flashed to the side and he snatched two plastic covered ice cream cones and shoved that into his big hoodie pocket also. "Now I'm going to count to three and we are going to blast through those doors and keep running. Got it?"

"Kihyun, I am not a thief."

"One..."

"Kihyun, please, it's too early for criminal activity."

"...two..."

"Kihyun, I'm begging you--"

"Three!"

Kihyun stood up and bolted across the convenience store at top speed, his pink hair whizzing cross the floor as he burst out of the glass doors. The door jingled daintily, as if Kihyun hadn't sprinted through like a bull in a china shop.

Hoseok sighed from his crouching position next to the candy and took a big gulp of his now cold coffee. He stood up tiredly and shared a gaze with the cashier. The cashier looked tired also, like this hadn't been the first time Kihyun had shoplifted from him.

With a large sigh, the cashier picked up the phone and deadpanned, "Hello? Yeah, that kid with pink hair shoplifted again--"

Hoseok was quick to walk over and put his credit card onto the counter. "Here," he grumbled.

The cashier looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "You know that kid?"

"Unfortunately," Hoseok replied with a shrug. "Just take my money for it, don't blame him."

"If you say so."

Kihyun was waiting outside of the convenience store when Hoseok shuffled out lazily, a disappointed look on his face.

"I told you to run on three!" he exclaimed.

Hoseok sipped his cold coffee again. "I heard you."

"So why didn't you?!" Kihyun's eyes flickered to the cashier inside and exclaimed, "And you paid him?! Hoseok, you're no fun at all."

"I don't need your kind of fun in my life. Not when I'm a law abiding citizen."

Kihyun stuck out his tongue as he pulled out an ice cream cone and broke open the plastic. "You're such a fucking nerd."

Hoseok rolled his eyes and held out his hand. "Give me one of the other ice cream cone."

"What for--?"

"I paid for it."

Kihyun glared at him before forking over the ice cream cone and watching indignantly as Hoseok popped it open and began eating it. He brought his tumbler to his mouth and frowned.

“I’m out of coffee,” he sighed sadly.

  
  
  
  
  


"Throw it."

Hoseok's jaw dropped open. "Kihyun, I'm not throwing it!"

Kihyun sighed at him, holding out his own ice cream wrapper an arm's length away from himself. "Hoseok, you need to learn to live a little. Just throw it." He chucked his wrapper across a field of grass and watched it land some feet away. He looked to Hoseok. "Now you throw it."

"Kihyun, that's  _ littering!" _ he gasped.

"It's biodegradable, just throw it!"

Hoseok frowned deeply and closed his eyes and took a deep, deep breath. He didn't want to ruin Kihyun's mood (not like he really cared about Kihyun's mood) so after a few seconds of mental debate, he tossed the wrapper and watched it float down a few inches away from him.

Kihyun furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the wrapper and then to Hoseok. "You're so weak."

"I could literally throw you," Hoseok replied.

"But you won't," Kihyun said matter-of-factly, "because that's child abuse."

Hoseok sighed. "You're not my child."

"Child abuse!" Kihyun sang as they began walking away.

Hoseok grimaced as they left their biodegradable wrappers on the grass. The grass they littered belonged to a mall that Kihyun had walked them to and wanted to shop in. Hoseok didn't understand why Kihyun was willing to spend money and clothes and weed but not on convenience store goods.

"So," Hoseok said as they entered a simple clothing store, "how long are you going to call it child abuse?"

"As long as you keep abusing me," Kihyun replied nonchalantly, leafing through some shirts.

Hoseok snickered as he picked out a sweater from the rack. "What're you going to do when it's your birthday and you're not a minor anymore? It can’t be child abuse then if you’re an adult.”

Kihyun's hands paused mid search and his forehead creased as he became deep in thought. Hoseok wanted to laugh because it was kind of cute in a weird way.

"Student abuse," he said after a moment. "It'll be student abuse."

"I'm a student too."

"Yeah, but you're an adult!"

Hoseok exclaimed, "But you would have also just become an adult!"

Kihyun frowned and huffed, his eyebrows furrowing as he glared sharply at Hoseok. "Fine! It's abuse! Just abuse! You're abusing me!"

Hoseok decided to let out an actual laugh at that as Kihyun frowned at his reaction. He ruffled Kihyun's hair and chuckled, "You're a funny dude."

"You're funny."

"Oh, thanks--"

"Funny  _ looking." _ Kihyun burst out laughing at his own joke and it was Hoseok's turn to frown.

"Real mature," he said.

"You know it," Kihyun replied with a wink.

Hoseok rolled his eyes and the two of them went back to browsing. He picked out a few sweaters and shirts to try on as he said, "So when is your birthday? When will child abuse just become abuse?"

"November," Kihyun told him, holding out a shirt to inspect it.

"Oh, so it's coming up soon."

"Yup. I will be an adult soon!" Kihyun laughed excitedly. "And then I can legally buy weed."

"...I'm not really sure how much more legal it is if you turn eighteen..." Hoseok murmured as he stood in front of a mirror. He held a sweater in front of his body and analyzed the way he looked. "Also, it doesn't matter if you become eighteen because if you don't get good grades, you'll have no way of getting your weed back."

Kihyun scrunched his nose as he joined Hoseok in front of the mirror. "You're the devil, my dude."

"Very proud of it, bro."

Kihyun rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself as he regarded Hoseok's reflection in the mirror. "That's a nice color on you," he said.

"You think so?" Hoseok asked.

Kihyun nodded. "Mm-hm. I like that color on you."

"Hm," Hoseok hummed. He looked at himself for a big longer before turning towards Kihyun. "You think I need to diet?"

"What? Where did that come from?" Kihyun frowned.

Hoseok shrugged. "I don't know, I've been thinking about it lately. You look really small in my sweater and I thought maybe I've gotten too big or something." 

Kihyun frowned as he stepped in front of Hoseok, stomping his foot down like a child. "Shut the fuck up, you're perfectly fine the way you are. Who the fuck told that to you, they're stupid."

Hoseok laughed. "No one  _ told  _ it to me, Kihyun--"

"Well, fuck them!"

  
  
  
  


"So he gave you a pep talk?"

Hoseok shrugged at Hyunwoo who was spreading out some pizza dough. "Yeah," he nodded. "He followed me around the rest of the day telling me to be more confident."

Hyunwoo snickered. "That little pink haired gumdrop was yelling at you to be more confident?"

"Yeah, I guess so. It was funny," Hoseok chuckled. "And it's not like I wasn't confident, I just thought that maybe I should lose weight is all. 'Cause working here definitely doesn't help my weight."

"Can't help it if we happen to make good pizza," Hyunwoo commented. "How are his grades doing though?"

Hoseok looked up in thought. "Actually, they're kind of improving. His math grade went from an F to a D+ yesterday. He's close to that C- he wants."

"A miracle," Hyunwoo chuckled.

"Yeah, and then his essay is still getting graded but his English grade is also rising. It feels good and I think it makes him feel good too."

"That's a good sign." Hyunwoo smiled with a slow nod. He spread tomato sauce on the flat dough and said, "So you're actually motivating him?"

"Possibly." Hoseok grinned. "It's a nice improvement. I think he's slowly forgetting about the fact that I kind of stole his weed from him."

"You think so?"

"Mm-hm!" Hoseok nodded proudly. "I should do something nice for his birthday."

"Wow, the kid is turning eighteen?"

"Yup! In a few more weeks. If his grades keep progressing, I should reward him on his birthday. It'll be nice."

Hyunwoo snickered and layered some slices of mozzarella cheese on the pizza. "Wasn't that shopping day you guys had enough of a reward? Surely his grades have to be better to get another reward, right?"

"Well, if it's his birthday I'll make an exception. Maybe I'll make him a cake or something."

Hyunwoo snorted. "You can  _ try  _ to make him a cake."

  
  
  
  
  


Hoseok did make a cake. Or at least, he tried to. Kihyun had been doing really well during his tutoring sessions as of late, so he figured the least he could do was make a cake for his birthday as a surprise.

So he showed up at Kihyun's doorstep after he knew he was out of class and held his homemade cake behind his back. Kihyun answered the door, looking confused and nearly offended that Hoseok had shown up.

"Why are you here?"

"Are you always unhappy to see me or something?"

Kihyun raised an eyebrow. "Well, usually when I see you it's to do school work so of course I'm always unhappy to see you."

"Gee thanks," Hoseok snorted. "Anyways I'm here to deliver a special present for you since it's your birthday."

"A present?" Kihyun's eyes lit up. "Is it my weed?"

"No."

"Then leave."

Hoseok tsk-ed and made a face. "I came all the way here, the least you could do is see what I made for you."

Kihyun rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as he leaned on his doorframe. “Fine,” he said. “What did you bring me?”

With a great flourish of his hands, Hoseok brought the misshapen cake he made forward proudly. “Ta-da! I made you a birthday cake.”

It was a little lopsided and slightly burnt on one end, but Hoseok figured it was because his oven had a hot spot. He wrote  _ Happy 18th! _ on the top with some glitter icing he had bought from his nearest grocery store. And maybe he had iced the cake too early and the icing was melting. And he might also not have any actual icing covering the cake, just the writing.

But Hoseok thought it was alright.

Kihyun, on the other hand, was thoroughly unimpressed as he regarded the cake. “You call this a cake? This is garbage.”

“Kihyun!” Hoseok reprimanded. “That’s rude!”

Kihyun scoffed and shrugged, “Well, I can’t help it if your cake is shit. It’s not even baked evenly, is it?” 

“I was just trying to do something nice for your birthday!” Hoseok frowned.

Kihyun raised his eyebrows. “Really, you wanted to bake a cake?” He narrowed his eyes and flung his door open. “I’ll show you how to bake a fucking cake.” 

“What?”

“Just come inside.” Kihyun paused in his tracks and looked over his shoulder. “Unless… you were only planning to drop by?” 

“I mean--” Hoseok tilted his head curiously as he stepped in. “I did come with the intent of helping you celebrate your birthday so.” 

Kihyun smiled (Hoseok did a double take because Kihyun? Was genuinely smiling?) and stepped aside to let Hoseok in. “Thanks for thinking of me, I guess.”

“Of course, I have to. Today is the day when child abuse becomes just regular abuse, remember?” 

Kihyun made a face at that. “Oh, right,” he said. “Uh, well. Thanks anyways. All my friends are busy today so we’re not celebrating until the weekend. So thanks for coming over. I’m just celebrating for myself right now.”

As they walked through the living that clearly belonged to an elderly person, Hoseok noticed that Kihyun had an apron tied around his back and waist that was covered in flour. He followed Kihyun to the kitchen where a history book was open on the counter as well as a plate of fresh, warm brownies. There were dirty bowls and trays in the sink and Hoseok felt his eyebrows rise in amazement as he set the cake down on the counter and sat down on a barstool. 

“Wow…” he murmured. 

“Sorry about the mess,” Kihyun said as he pulled out a bag of flour and began grabbing other ingredients from the fridge. He glanced at Hoseok as he started measuring out the ingredients. “Help yourself to some brownies -- I made more than enough for grandma and me.” 

Hoseok raised an eyebrow as he picked up a brownie that was still so soft and warm to the touch. Taking a bite, his eyes widened, impressed. “These are really good,” he murmured. “I didn’t know you baked.”

“Well yeah, what else do you think I do with weed.”

Hoseok choked on the remaining part of the brownie and looked at Kihyun with wide eyes. “Wait,  _ weed?!”  _ he shouted.

Kihyun rolled his eyes at him, saying, “Relax, that’s just fudge, I don’t have any weed, remember? Because,” he sent Hoseok an unimpressed glance, “you took it.  _ Remember?”  _

_ “Right,”  _ Hoseok coughed with a smile. “Well in that case… don’t mind if I do,” he sang as he plucked another brownie from the pile. 

“I can’t believe you have no remorse for stealing my weed,” Kihyun muttered as he stirred his batter vigorously.

“Not at all,” Hoseok said with a grin. “The only thing I feel bad about is that you think my cake is shit enough to have to make your own right now.”

“Yes, because I don’t consume shit. Only the good stuff.”

“Explains why you spent so much money on weed.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Kihyun snapped. Hoseok realized though, that there was no malice behind it this time. 

Hoseok watched him for some time more, watched as how he added flavorings while stirring the batter. He brought out a circular cake pan and poured the thick batter in; Hoseok thought it was almost hypnotizing, the way the batter drizzled in. Kihyun popped it into his oven smoothly and stood back up, clapping his hands to rid himself of the excess flour. 

“Do you take cooking classes?” Hoseok asked after a few more moments.

Kihyun snorted as he took the apron off his body. “No. I don’t need to take classes for something as basic as cooking.”

“Basic--”

“Why?” Kihyun paused to stare at him. He smirked and chuckled as Hoseok pursed his lips embarrassingly. “Hoseok, do you not know how to cook?” 

“I can!” he retorted. Then mumbled, “Ramen and pizza, at least…”

“Do you guys even make the pizza? Don’t you just roll the dough and put toppings on it?”

Hoseok rolled his eyes. “That’s like the same thing.” 

“Except it’s not.” 

“It’s not like I have time to cook anyways!” he exclaimed. “I’m too busy with school to have actual time to study!”

“Cooking isn’t that time consuming! Come here, let me show you something.”

Hoseok scrunched his eyebrows as Kihyun beckoned him to the other side of the kitchen. “What?”

“Come here! I’ll show you how to cook something so that you stop feeding yourself shit.” Hoseok joined him reluctantly and Kihyun’s smile was far from innocent. “It’ll be fun.” 

  
  
  
  
  


Fun might have been a bit of an overstatement because absolutely nothing about it was fun for Hoseok. Stoves didn’t make sense, first of all, because what kind of device allowed you to create a dangerous, open flame in your home where it could hurt you. Hot oil was also probably something created by a demon because Hoseok didn’t understand how Kihyun didn’t flinch when the oil popped at him and splattered on his skin because Hoseok sure as well was flinching everywhere. 

Kihyun laughed at him when he asked for safety goggles, but Hoseok hadn’t intended it as a joke. 

It also didn’t help that Kihyun was yelling at him like he was an idiot (Hoseok was not an idiot, thank you very much). And Hoseok had an inkling that Kihyun thought it was hilarious by the way he was barking at him that  _ that’s sugar, I said you need salt you fucking idiot!  _ and laughed hysterically as Hoseok jumped every time the oil popped.

“You’re such a bitch,” he snickered as Hoseok turned the stove off after Kihyun deemed the food done. 

Hoseok pouted as he threw the spatula down into the sink. “Don’t call me a bitch, I could destroy you.” 

“Can’t destroy the cooking game though, can you?” Kihyun joked as he plated up the dish Hoseok made. It was some sort of stir fry with leftover things Kihyun found in his fridge, but Hoseok didn’t truly know what it was. He figured it tasted nice though for something he cooked. 

Hoseok tilted his head in acknowledgement after trying it. “Okay,” he muttered, “I guess I could make this instead of ramen.”

“Fuck yeah you can.” 

“Did you really need to swear there?” Hoseok asked as a timer went off from Kihyun’s phone.

Kihyun snickered as he pulled out the cake he baked from the fridge. It had finished a little earlier and Kihyun had put it in the fridge for some weird reasoning like ‘to not melt the icing.’ “Swear where?” he asked innocently. He set the cake on the counter next to the bowl of icing he had been whipping up while he yelled cooking instructions at Hoseok.

“Real funny,” Hoseok sneered playfully as he rested his elbows on the counter. “But I have to say,” he said as Kihyun began smoothing icing over the cake, “I’m pretty impressed.”

“By what?” 

“By you.” Hoseok smiled softly at him and Kihyun snorted. “I mean it, dude! I don’t know a lot of people who can make their own dinners let alone their own cakes. And it smells great so it must be good.” 

Kihyun shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, you pick up things when you’re bored.” He began scooping some icing into a piping bag, coloring it a hot pink. “I guess I picked up baking because I was really into weed brownies.”

Hoseok rolled his eyes once again. But before Kihyun could begin piping, he exclaimed, “Oh! Oh, can I decorate it?” 

Kihyun looked up at him without any kind of amusement.  _ “You? _ Decorate the birthday cake I’m making for myself?”

“At the very least?” Hoseok grinned. “I feel bad that you have to make yourself a cake, so at least let me decorate it.”

Kihyun eyed him strangely for a few moments before hesitantly handing him the piping bag and Hoseok took it with glee. “As long as it doesn’t look like shit.” 

Kihyun figured that Hoseok was much too excited to be doing something as simple as icing some words on a cake. Hoseok was entirely too careful though, Kihyun noticed as he sat on the counter barstool, snacking on brownies and the stir fry Hoseok had made. It was maybe twenty minutes in and Hoseok hadn’t even finished piping the first word and Kihyun was nearly about to lose it. And the piping wasn’t even that good -- Kihyun’s head started hurting the longer he watched. 

“Hoseok, please, it’s been twenty minutes--”

“Good work,” Hoseok interrupted loudly, his eyes trained on the cake in concentration as his hands shook while squeezing the bag, “takes time.” 

“My birthday will be over by the time you’re done.” 

“I’m almost finished, I swear! Just one more…” 

Kihyun got up from his seat and went to go glance over his shoulder. His suspicions had been correct -- the piping was quite below par. “Hoseok, that’s so ugly.”

“It’s the thought that counts.” 

Kihyun pursed his lips. _ “...Does it  _ though? I’ll give you a C+ for it.”

“A C+ only?!” Hoseok exclaimed. 

“Your technique is poor.” 

Hoseok ignored him and continued piping the exclamation point on his  _ Happy 18th Kihyun!  _ Proudly, he added a little smiley face at the bottom. He turned to Kihyun and smiled at it and Kihyun sighed reluctantly.

“I guess I can bump you up to a B-... for the smiley.”

Hoseok grinned happily like he had received the greatest compliment in the world. He reached over to pet Kihyun’s head. “Still higher than your grades, bro.”

Kihyun sneered at him. “You’re so annoying.”

But they cut into the cake anyways and each had a piece (or maybe more than one piece, judging by the quarter of cake that ended up being left behind.) And Kihyun figured that once he got past the absolute disgustingness of Hoseok’s intelligence, he was a pretty okay guy to talk to. But no matter how okay he was, Hoseok was still some goody-two-shoed stick in the mud who probably climaxed faster through doing charity work than beating himself off.

It was only when Hoseok had left that evening and Kihyun was left alone with Hoseok’s god awful cake still on the counter that he took a moment to think. Because even though Hoseok was his very own, special brand of scum, he did bake Kihyun a birthday cake. At least, he tried to. And as he stared at the ugly cake with the ugly icing and the one burnt side, Kihyun felt something strange heat up in his cheeks and prickle in his chest as he dared to slice a piece of the cake for himself. 

It tasted just as shit as Kihyun expected it.

But despite that, he felt very appreciative of Hoseok’s actions as he willed a blush to stay off his cheeks even though there was no one to hide it from. What was he blushing for anyways? Not like he liked Hoseok or anything. Hoseok was just a cool dude. A good bro. 

So yeah, the cake was shit but maybe it was kind of also  _ not-shit  _ in it’s own special way. 

Not like Kihyun was going to tell Hoseok that anyways.

  
  
  
  
  


“How’d you do on your test?” 

Kihyun blinked at Minhyuk for probably the twentieth time that period. “I got a C+ for the test,” he replied. “You?”

“B-,” Minhyuk replied nonchalantly. He turned to another person at their group table, a fellow classmate named Hyungwon, and asked him how he did also. Hyungwon had gotten an A like usual.

“Hey Kihyun,” Hyungwon said, “you’ve being doing a lot better than normal.” Hyungwon was another one of his friends that Kihyun  _ thought  _ wasn’t consuming some type of drug. But Kihyun saw his bong once.

“Have I?” Kihyun asked as he folded his arms on his desk and rested his chin in it. “I mean I’m not having withdrawals anymore.” 

Hyungwon laughed. “No, I mean your grades. I’m TA-ing for your history teacher and he says that you’ve improved a lot. Like, you’re eligible to walk for graduation now.”

“Oh. I haven’t noticed,” Kihyun replied softly as he closed his eyes. He intended to take a nap since he stayed up so late studying last night. 

“Well, we have,” Minhyuk said with at tilt of his head. “And you’re wearing that boy’s sweater again.” 

Kihyun’s eyes opened to look at the familiar maroon sleeves that fell past his fingers. He felt a blush coming on (which didn’t make sense, because it wasn’t even that hot) and he flopped the big sleeve over his pink hair. He groaned and murmured, “It’s a really warm sweater…” 

“It’s too big for you,” Hyungwon commented offhandedly. “Do you want to trade with my sweater, I’m sure I could fit that one--”

“No!” Kihyun swallowed because it was kind of embarrassing how quickly he sat up and hugged the sweater to himself. Minhyuk gave him a knowing smile and Hyungwon just looked confused. 

“...Are you sure?” Hyungwon asked. “It’s that jacket you like stealing from me because it’s soft.”

Kihyun looked down and pursed his lips. “Well,” he cleared his throat, “this sweater is pretty soft too so I’m… I’m okay.”

“Oh really?” Minhyuk sang as he leaned forward teasingly. “There any reason you’ve been wearing this sweater for the past couple months?” 

Kihyun frowned and looked away with his nose in the air. “No,” he retorted. 

“What’s the guy’s name again? The one who gave you the sweater?” Minhyuk asked coyly.

“His name is Hoseok,” Kihyun told him casually. “And I just haven’t given him his sweater back, that’s all.”

Hyungwon raised an eyebrow. “And you wear it all the time?”

“Not all the time!” 

“Wait a second,  _ Hoseok?”  _ Minhyuk made a face. “You mean the senior on the dance team?” 

“No,” Kihyun said quickly. “Hoseok is, uh, he’s a guy in college who’s tutoring me. That’s all. And this is his sweater.”

“A college boy  _ and  _ a tutor?!” Minhyuk exclaimed. He gasped as he clutched a hand over his heart. “Kihyun is into  _ older men?!”  _

“I’m not into him, stop!” 

“How old is he?”

“Twenty-one.”

“Oh baby, a  _ real  _ man.”

Kihyun glared at Minhyuk. “Shut up!” 

Minhyuk laughed out loud as their teacher came over with papers to hand back. Kihyun was thankful because it distracted Minhyuk from the subject at hand. 

“Yoo Kihyun?” the teacher asked as she pulled out his graded paper. Kihyun raised his hand and the teacher placed his graded paper on his desk. She gave him a smile and said, “Good job, by the way. You’ve been improving a lot.” 

And something proud sprouted in Kihyun’s chest as he stared down at the B+ that was adorning his essay.

“Wow!” Hyungwon exclaimed with a smile. He pat Kihyun’s shoulder excitedly. “Good job, dude!”

Kihyun thought it was extremely uncharacteristic that he felt so happy looking at a nice grade for his work. 

“Looks like that college boy tutor is paying off,” Minhyuk snickered under his palm. “You should thank him.” 

Kihyun just rolled his eyes at him but Minhyuk was maybe half right. He should probably do something for Hoseok to thank him for getting him this far.

  
  
  
  
  


Hoseok was more than surprised to open his door Friday evening to see Kihyun standing there. He thought that maybe it wasn’t even Kihyun, because even though the shorter stature and pink bubblegum hair matched, Kihyun was smiling at him and that didn’t make any sense whatsoever. And he was standing there with a big tray of cookies like he just happened to be selling his wares in the neighborhood.

“Kihyun?” 

“Hi,” Kihyun said chirpily. And Hoseok was even more convinced that he was a clone or an evil twin.

Hoseok looked around to see if there was someone holding a gun to his back or something. “What brings you here?”

Kihyun cleared his throat and held the tray of cookies forward. There was a piece of paper on the top that Hoseok reached for. “So I, uh… I got a B+ on my essay and it’s the highest grade I’ve ever gotten. So I just. I just wanted to thank you,” he said, looking down sheepishly. “For putting up with me, I guess.”

Hoseok raised an eyebrow. “You’re acknowledging that you’re an annoying piece of shit.”

“No, I’m saying you’re an annoying piece of shit that had to put up with my glory.” 

“Okay,” Hoseok snorted as he looked down to the sheet of paper.

_ hey thanks for the help fam ur the real mvp haha amiright? anyways, keep it lit dude, i’m really glad u helped me.  _

Hoseok sighed but a smile graced his face as he exhaled. He looked down to the tray of cookies and saw that the chocolate chips were spelled out into letters, and the cookies were arranged to say Thanks Dude. He chuckled and said, “What did I say about using dude in an essay?” 

“This isn’t an essay, you ungrateful shit!” Kihyun snapped, his lips pursing even though his eyes still sparkled. There was the Kihyun Hoseok knew.

Hoseok laughed and looked back inside his house. His housemate was gone again because he always left for the weekends and Hoseok was alone. So in the spur of the moment, he licked his lips, stared down at his feet and chuckled out, “Hey do you? Would you want to come inside? We can eat cookies and watch movies or something.” 

And Kihyun’s eyes positively lit up despite the way he arrogantly tilted his head and said, “Okay, since I’m eighteen now and all.”

“Any movie requests?” Hoseok asked as Kihyun stepped in.

Kihyun shook his head as he brought the tray and placed it onto a table. “Nope! I’m down for whatever.”

So they sat down on Hoseok’s beat up hand me down couch and turned on whatever movies were streaming on Netflix. It ended up being some random horror movie that wasn’t even that scary. At least, Hoseok was convincing himself it wasn’t that scary every time a jump scare popped onto the screen. The farther the movie continued, the darker the room got because the sun was setting outside. And the darker it got, the more spooked he felt when the demons appeared on screen.

And every time he jumped a little bit, his fingers would graze against Kihyun’s knuckles. They seemed to be moving closer to each other the closer the characters on the screen 

“Are you scared?” Kihyun asked him. He turned with a small smirk on his face. 

Hoseok laughed out loud and ended weakly with a cough. “Not even, bro. Are you?”

Kihyun also let out a laugh as he turned back to the screen. “Not even a little.” His voice cracked at the end. A scream came from the television and they both jumped in their seats. Kihyun coughed into his fist as he gave Hoseok a weak smile and said, “See? Totally not scary.” 

“Nope,” Hoseok agreed. Kihyun’s bomb ass cookies did very little to soothe either of them. 

Another character was sliced on the screen and Kihyun winced at all the gore. And suddenly, his hand was gripping Hoseok’s as he casually brought another cookie to his mouth with another hand. 

His soft fingers was quite the distraction from fear and Hoseok looked down to their hands. It seemed that Kihyun barely realized that he was holding Hoseok’s hand until he felt Hoseok’s gaze on his fingers. So he looked down at how his hand was gripping Hoseok’s and then awkwardly looked up to match Hoseok’s gaze. 

They stared at each other for a few second before Kihyun cleared his throat and looked away. He had to will that dumb blush to not come onto his cheeks again as he shoved another cookie in his mouth. 

“You sure you’re not scared?” Hoseok asked him quietly as another character on the screen screamed bloody murder.

Kihyun shook his head. “Mm-mm. Not scared at all.” 

Hoseok chuckled softly as he readjusted their hands so that their fingers intertwined. “Me neither.” 

And if Kihyun were honest and willing to acknowledge the soft feelings that were swirling around his chest, he might have thought that there was a slight chance that he could have the tiniest crush on Hoseok. The smallest of crushes that was the size of his pinky finger -- a very small crush. Smaller than him even. 

But he gripped Hoseok’s hand tighter and smiled to himself. Nah. Hoseok was just a great dude to be friends with.

  
  
  
  
  


“You’re looking awfully chipper.”

Hoseok looked up and smiled at Hyunwoo brightly. He laughed to himself. “Yeah. Yeah, I suppose.” 

Hyunwoo raised an eyebrow as he slid a pizza into the oven. “Want to tell me why?” 

“No reason,” Hoseok replied, spreading tomato sauce over a pizza. “I’m picking up Kihyun later to watch movies at my place.” 

“What? Not for tutoring?” 

Hoseok shook his head. “Oh, no. We meet for tutoring on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Lately on Fridays we’ve been chilling at my place and watching movies until he needs to go home. It’s been pretty nice.”

Hyunwoo made a face. “When did that start?”

“Uh, a few weeks ago I think? He came over to bring me cookies and then he stayed over for movies. And we didn’t finish one of the movies so he came over the next week to finish it. And now it’s become a bit of a weekly thing.”

“Really,” Hyunwoo mused. “Oh, also. I saw you cooking on your Snapchat. I thought you said you couldn’t cook anything besides pizza and ramen?”

“Kihyun’s been teaching me some easy dishes to do so we can eat while watching movies. You know, it turns out cooking isn’t as difficult as it seems?”

Hyunwoo gave him a strange glance that Hoseok didn’t catch. “You guys sure have been spending a lot of time together. I thought you couldn’t stand him.”

Hoseok shrugged as he layered toppings onto his pizza. “He’s gotten less annoying, I think. Besides, it’s not like I want to be around him all the time.” 

“So why do you keep him around so much?” Hyunwoo asked. “You’ve got university friends, don’t you?”

“Well,” Hoseok muttered, “yeah, I guess. Kihyun’s just so funny to be around. He’s hilarious.” 

And it was true, Kihyun was pretty funny to be around. Not to say his sense of humor was something that appealed to Hoseok, but his reactions and demeanors made for pretty amusing times. Hoseok figured that was why he spent so much time with Kihyun outside of tutoring -- Kihyun was just funny to watch and Hoseok was a good person who was polite enough to entertain him. 

Yeah, that must’ve been it.

“Hoseok?” 

“Hm?”

“You’re putting pickles on the margherita pizza.”

“Oh--” Hoseok’s hands froze. “Oh, shoot.”

Hyunwoo shook his head and muttered something about dating younger guys and getting dumber because of it as Hoseok trashed his pizza with a large sigh.

  
  
  
  
  


“Kihyun, you look like you got your drug money back.”

Kihyun grinned so widely as he laughed out of pure giddiness. “I know! Except I didn’t.” He frowned at that but his smile came back nearly instantly. “I’m just! Kind of happy!” 

“Why?” Minhyuk asked.

“Didn’t you hear?” Hyungwon cut in smugly. “Kihyun got straight Bs on his progress report.”

“And!” Kihyun exclaimed. “And A! I got an A!” 

Minhyuk’s eyes bulged as he gasped, “You got an A? Yoo Kihyun, the pink haired pothead, received an A?” He held a hand over his heart and forced out a wheeze. “I’m having palpitations.”

“Quit it,” Kihyun whined, rolling his eyes. “Besides, it’s not that surprising is it?”

Hyungwon shrugged. “I don’t know, you were a straight F student a few months ago. Dare I say, you’re more prepared for finals than I am. You know he’s actually got flashcards?” he told Minhyuk.

Minhyuk let out another wheeze. “Oh my god, Kihyun turned into a nerd.” 

“I’m not a nerd!” Kihyun said matter-of-factly. “Hoseok just says that flashcards help with remembering stuff. And if I start doing them every day consistently, then I won’t need to cram for finals.”

“I’m so confused,” Minhyuk said. “What brought this on? You were never good at studying before.” 

Kihyun tilted his head. “Guess I just needed the right motivation.”

“So you needed your drugs and money stolen from you in order to study,” Hyungwon deadpanned.

Minhyuk snickered, “Or a hot college boy to tutor him.”

“God, shut the fuck up. You don’t even know what he looks like.”

“You think he’s joking,” Hyungwon chimed in, “but he’s not. As in your hot college boy is over there.”

“What?” Kihyun furrowed his eyebrows as he followed the finger Hyungwon pointed. And sure enough, leaning onto his running car in the pickup loop was Hoseok. 

He certainly looked out of place, a university student playing on his phone as he stood next his car that was surrounded by parent cars. Too young to be a dad but too old to be a high schooler. Even some students were noticing, ogling at the hot young man that was waiting at the front.

“Damn, he is hot. I don’t think I’ve actually seen him in person before,” Minhyuk commented.

“It’s because he’s usually sitting in the car waiting for Kihyun,” Hyungwon stage whispered to him. “They do this every Friday now.” 

“Wow,” Minhyuk sang. 

Kihyun rolled his eyes. “Just shut up, the both of you. I’ll see you guys next week.” 

He didn’t stay long enough for the mischievous look Minhyuk was giving him before running to the car excitedly. Hoseok saw him coming and grinned at him.

“Hey!” he said. He opened the car door for Kihyun to get in.

Kihyun slipped into the car energetically and waited for Hoseok to sit in the driver’s seat before exclaiming, “Hoseok! I have something to show you!”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“My progress report,” Kihyun said as he reached into his bag and pulled out his paper. He thrust it towards Hoseok proudly with an arrogant look on his face. “Look at those Bs! Are you proud?!”

Hoseok took the paper into his hands and his eyes absolutely lit up. But he pulled a fake look of apathy onto his face and shrugged, “Well, I don’t see any As so you’re not getting your money back quite yet.” 

“Oh come on!” Kihyun pouted as Hoseok began driving out of the crowded school lot. “But my Bs! My Bs used to be Fs! I worked so hard, that must count for something!”

“Bs will get you ice cream but As will get you your money back.”

Kihyun frowned and huff as Hoseok handed his grade sheet back to him. “I  _ have  _ an A!” 

“Yeah, but I said  _ As.  _ Plural.” 

“You’re fucking impossible,” Kihyun groaned. Then throwing his hands up into the air, he exclaimed, “Fine! Just get me ice cream!” 

Hoseok laughed out loud and reached over to playfully pinch Kihyun’s cheek, only to have Kihyun smack his hand away violently. “Okay, okay -- I’ll take you to my favorite ice cream place.”

“Do they have a weed flavor?”

“Yeah, it’s called the Cannabis Cone.”

“Really?”

Hoseok snorted. “No.” 

“Fuck you, man.”

  
  
  
  
  


“I can’t believe you.” 

“They might be Bs but they’re high Bs, damn it.” 

Hoseok rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you have to order the triple scoop. That shit costs extra.”

Kihyun held his cup of ice cream proudly, clearly taking satisfaction at how much bigger his was than Hoseok’s. Hoseok only got a one scoop cup of some fruity flavor. Kihyun got three scoops of some random flavors that didn’t really match but they all tasted nice separately. 

“Well, if I can’t use money for weed I might as well splurge on ice cream.” Kihyun shrugged as he sucked on the tiny plastic spoon in his hand. “And you agreed to it.”

Hoseok sighed as he dug his spoon into Kihyun’s cup. “It’s hard to say no to you, for some reason.” Kihyun looked at him indignantly as he brought the ice cream to his mouth and Hoseok laughed. 

“You bought your own ice cream!”

“I also paid for yours,” Hoseok pointed out as they casually walked into a pet store. “So I technically own your ice cream too.”

Kihyun rolled his eyes as they shuffled into the store. The atmosphere was warm despite it smelling kind of weird with all the animals. The pet shop was a couple stores down from the ice cream parlor they visited. All of the open pens were bustling with little bunnies and puppies that were so soft and plush. They all looked like little toys.

Kihyun felt Hoseok start to grin next to him as he looked at all the fluffy animals. "I want to pet them!"

"I think you can?" Kihyun commented. "The sign says as long as you keep the pen closed you can go in and play with them."

Hoseok glanced around. "I don't need a worker to open the pen for me?"

"No." Kihyun shook his head. "I've been here once before when I was high and I just laid down and pet the kittens for six hours. They had to kick me out."

The other snorted as he handed Kihyun his ice cream cup and quietly slipped into the puppy pen. He picked up a black labrador and held it close to his chest. With a highly contented sigh, Hoseok broke out in a grin and said, "I love dogs."

Kihyun tilted his head in acknowledgment as he took a lick of Hoseok's ice cream. "They're cute." He nodded.

Hoseok sighed at him. "Could you not eat my ice cream while I play with puppies?" He looked down to the happily panting labrador and cooed at him. "Oh, what a good boy! You're such a good boy."

"Gross," Kihyun snickered. "Are you going to talk to your kids that way?"

"What way?"

"Like a baby. That's baby talk."

Hoseok cast him  a judgmental look before sitting down with the dog and stroking his head as more puppies came to paw at him. "Do you not baby talk with baby animals?"

"Of course not. They're intelligent, they don't deserve to be talked to like babies."

"But... they are babies."

Kihyun rolled his eyes. "Hoseok, I think the puppies would appreciate if you treated them like adults."

"Shut up," Hoseok directed to Kihyun in a high, sweet voice as he pet the puppies' heads lovingly. "Oh, you're so sweet, I love you so much!" he sang.

Kihyun put their ice cream cups on top of an adjacent lizard cage as he joined Hoseok in the pen also. "You're such a pushover," he complained as a puppy came bouncing up at him. He picked up the puppy and poked its nose softly. "What's up, my dude? How's the pen life treating you?"

"You can't talk to puppies like  _ that," _ Hoseok said disapprovingly.

"Well, you can't baby talk them. You sound like an idiot." Kihyun held the puppy in his arm warmly. "Isn't that right, buddy? Hoseok sounds like a total idiot."

"The real idiot here is you," Hoseok said. Then to the puppy in his arms, he said, "Did you know that Kihyun used to have straight Fs? He didn't know what the order of operations was, isn't that silly? So silly, Kihyun -- right baby?"

It was quiet for a second between the two of them, almost awkwardly so as Kihyun slowly tore his gaze from the puppy held towards Hoseok. Hoseok didn't pay him any attention until seconds after, when his eyes lit up in sudden realization.

"Oh-- Oh, I was calling the dog baby. Not you." He licked his lips and swallowed. "The puppy is... is the baby."

Kihyun cleared his throat. "Right." He set the puppy down with a soft stroke and stood up. "Uh, I'm going to finish your ice cream if you don't."

Hoseok was quick to stand up with a frown, "That's my ice cream, don't eat it!"

"If you don't put the puppy down I'm going to finish your dumb sorbet!"

"Kihyun, don't you fucking dare."

Kihyun tried to shove Hoseok's ice cream into his mouth before he could reach him, but Hoseok was entirely too fast. He nearly choked on all the ice cream he shoveled into his mouth when Hoseok tackled him with his arms, squeezing Kihyun tightly until he gave up Hoseok's small cup of ice cream.

"You ate like half of it!" Hoseok whined.

"It's not that much," Kihyun retorted, eating his own ice cream again. "You only got one measly scoop."

"Because the triple scoop costs  _ extra," _ Hoseok reiterated _ again. _ He rolled his eyes as he and Kihyun continued through the store. They left the big pen area and entered into the tanks of fish and turtles and hermit crabs.

Kihyun gasped. "I love fish," he whispered. "I could watch them swim for hours."

"But all they do is swim."

"That's the point!" Kihyun frowned at him. "They also eat."

Hoseok shrugged and walked over to a tank full of blue Danios. "Ooh, these fish are so pretty."

He gazed at the fish and then turned his attention to looking at little hermit crabs and frogs that were in separate glass boxes also. Frogs were pretty cute, he decided. And the salamanders were cute animals also.

But Hoseok was shaken out of his train of thought as Kihyun let out a loud, blood curdling scream. "Holy shit, Kihyun, what the fuck--" he asked as he jumped.

He turned to see Kihyun with his hands pressed up against a tank with one fish in it. His ice cream spoon was dangling out of his mouth as he leaned his forehead onto the glass. "What is that.  _ What _ is that."

Hoseok peered into the tank and laid eyes on what was probably the ugliest fish he had ever seen in his life. It looked like a tiny monster that was the size of Hoseok's three fingers put together. He frowned because Kihyun might have screamed at how ugly it was but it wasn't the fish's fault.

"Kihyun," he began, "that's not very nice--"

"He's absolutely perfect."

"...What?!" Hoseok exclaimed as he felt his forehead crease and his eyes widen. "Um, Kihyun?! It's so ugly?!"

Kihyun snapped his head over to glare at him sharply. "Hoseok, that's not very nice."

"Kihyun, he looked like he ate all the other fish in the tank!"

"Don't fucking speak to him that way."

"Kihyun," Hoseok stressed. "He looks like he should be a fossil by now." Kihyun glared at him and then threw his plastic spoon at him. "Kihyun, gross--!"

"It's okay Robert, he didn't mean it," Kihyun whispered, stroking the glass. "Hoseok's just an asshole."

"Did. Did you just name him before you bought him?"

"Yes, his name is Robert and he's a great fish. Isn't that right, Robert?" he cooed, drawing circles on the tank glass.

"I thought you said baby talk was stupid."

"It is stupid."

Hoseok felt a headache beginning to form right near his temple. "But you-- you just did it! To that dumb fish!"

"First of all Hoseok, he has a _ name. _ And his name is  _ Robert." _ Kihyun snapped. "And second of all, he is not dumb, he's the most precious, loyal fish anyone could ask for."

Hoseok groaned and massaged his eyebrows. "Kihyun. You just looked at the thing. Heck, it's hardly been a minute since you saw him. You can't name him! You especially can't name him Robert."

"Well, I've named him now so now I'm attached." Kihyun pouted as he wrapped his arms around the tank and squished his cheek to the glass. "Let's buy him, let's buy him."

"Kihyun, I'm not buying you a fish."

"Us, you're buying  _ us  _ a fish!" Kihyun nearly shouted, his eyes sparkling as he begged. "Because _ I _ named him and it's  _ your  _ money!"

"Absolutely not."

"Hoseok," Kihyun sang, pressing his cheek harder on the tank glass. "Please?"

"No."

But somehow despite saying no to Kihyun for a good fifteen minutes, Hoseok found himself sighing deeply as he handed over his credit card to buy the stupid fish. Kihyun was holding the fish in a plastic pouch proudly, like he had won the fish at a county fair or something. He kept lifting it up to his face and talking to the fish and calling him Robert.

"We're not naming him Robert," Hoseok said as Kihyun kept cooing at him.

Kihyun stopped to frown at him. "I already named him Robert though.”

"I paid for him, I get to have a say in his name." Hoseok received his credit card back with a smile as he began walking out of the store with Kihyun. "And we're not naming him Robert."

Kihyun frowned as he regarded the fish in the bag. Then after a second he said, "What about Bobert."

Hoseok choked. "Bobert?! Kihyun, that's worse!"

"So you agree, Robert is a better name than Bobert."

"Kihyun, that's not--"

"Robert it is."

"Ki--"

Kihyun grinned at the fish warmly. "Welcome to the family, my dude."

Hoseok rolled his eyes. "What's your grandma going to say when you come back with a fish? Where are you going to keep it?"

Kihyun hummed. "Well, we're going to Target and getting him a bowl. And we're keeping him at  _ your  _ house."

"Wait, what--?"

"I don't have room at my home for a fish! Maybe for a bowl, but we have to upgrade his bowl to a tank eventually."

"What makes you think I'm going to keep him?!"

Kihyun looked up at him casually, as if the answer was clear. "Well, you have a house and a housemate who doesn't care."

Hoseok closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. But he didn't fight back.

  
  
  
  
  


That was how Hoseok ended up with a fish tank in his living room. It had been in a small bowl the first week and then Kihyun got another A and Hoseok caved in and bought the bigger tank and accessories Kihyun had linked him to on Amazon.

Now Robert lived in a big rectangular tank complete with colorful coral, a state of the art filter and a castle he could swim in and out of. Hoseok still thought he was ugly as shit though. That being said, last night he had fed him and sat next to the tank, watching him eat for maybe twenty minutes.

"You heading home again?"

Hoseok's housemate looked at him as he put on his shoes and slung a bag over his shoulder. "Yeah. Oh, that reminds me. I'll be home for the next couple of weeks."

Hoseok's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah, you had your last final today! How was it?"

His housemate shrugged. "It was alright. I think I passed. You had your last final yesterday, right?"

"Yeah, I did." Hoseok smiled as he pushed his hands into his sweater pocket. "It went pretty well, I think."

"You're not going to head home for the holidays?"

"Nah, my parents went on vacation a couple days before I had finals so I’m here over break. It’ll be a little lonely for the holidays but I’ll be fine.”

His housemate snickered under his breath and smiled at him. “I mean you got that kid to keep you company, right?”

“What--”

“That pink haired kid who comes over on Fridays for movies?”

“Oh, Kihyun? Yeah, I guess.” Hoseok shrugged.

“That reminds me,” his housemate said, “is he not coming over today?” 

Hoseok shook his head. “No, he’s got his last final today. So he’ll probably go home and pass out like any other student,” he laughed. “Maybe we’ll watch more movies now that both of us are on break.” 

His housemate shot him a look as he opened his front door. “I’ve been meaning to ask. Are you guys a… thing, or something?” 

“Huh?”

“Dating. Are you two dating?” he clarified. “Because you guys sure do spend a lot of time together.”

Hoseok laughed and shook his head. “No, of course not. He’s just a dude I tutor. And we chill sometimes.”

“Are you tutoring him over break?”

“No. Why?”

He shrugged. “Just asking.” 

They said their goodbyes after that and Hoseok bid his housemate a warm wish for the holidays. The house was extremely quiet after that and the solitude settled in gently. Hoseok enjoyed the calm and quiet his house offered him. He actually hadn’t seen Kihyun since last week, when Hoseok had made sure that Kihyun was prepared for his finals. His whole week had been stressfully quiet, but now that his own finals were over, he finally felt at peace. 

Although, a part of him did miss the slight chaos Kihyun always brought. He would need to remind himself later to shoot Kihyun a text asking him what movies he wanted to watch over break so Hoseok could download them. 

Hoseok whipped up a quick dinner for himself and finished it quickly. Cooking for himself was actually pretty nice. It was fast and easy and so simple. His dinner was quiet but satisfying and when he finished washing his plates, he decided it was time to give Robert dinner also. 

“Alright Robert,” Hoseok grumbled as he picked up the fish food shaker. “Time for you to eat.” 

Robert was situated against an empty wall of their house on a large table. It actually made for nice decoration since the tank glowed a pretty shade of blue. As Hoseok finished shaking the food, he pulled up a chair next to the tank and rested his cheek on the table, looking up and watching Robert swim around and such up the floating bits of food. His food was the good, expensive stuff that Kihyun insisted on buying because I will not feed my son anything that isn’t good enough for him.

“What does Kihyun see in you?” Hoseok asked, sneering up at the fish. “You’re so ugly.”

He kind of hated Robert so it didn’t make sense that he spent so much time watching him eat as if it was the most endearing thing on the planet.  Heaving a large sigh, he stood up from his chair and stroked the tank with one finger as if he was petting the ugly fish. He guessed he would read a book or something tonight.

Hoseok snapped his head up when his doorbell rang. He furrowed his eyebrows. Maybe it was his housemate. Maybe he had forgotten something.

But when he opened the door, he felt himself choke on his throat because standing there in front of him was Kihyun, his head wrapped in tin foil, a retainer glinting in his smile, a pair of fleece Kermit pajama pants on his legs. Kihyun held a pillow in one arm and a tote bag in the other.

But Kihyun disregarded all his questioning looks as he stepped past Hoseok and into his home. "Slumber party!" he sang loudly. Although with his retainer, it sounded more like  _ Thlumber Party!  _ and Hoseok almost laughed at how cute it was.

"Kihyun, what are you doing here?" he asked.

Kihyun only smiled at him as he dropped his pillow in front of the couch they watched movies on. "I thought I messaged you I was going to come over. We're going to watch Disney movies all night long to celebrate finishing finals."

"I didn't get a message...?"

Kihyun pulled out his phone and checked it. "Oh. I forgot to hit send. Well! I'm here now! So let's get started." He regarded Hoseok and gave him a look. "Why aren't you in your pajamas?"

Hoseok was ready to protest and tell him that Kihyun should have just rested after finishing his finals. And that he couldn't just pop into Hoseok's time any time he wanted. But instead, he went into his room and changed into a dumb pair of fleece pajama pants that were covered in carrots and a hoodie. When he came back out, Kihyun had found a bunch of quilts and fluffy blankets and laid them down in front of the couch as padding. He was laying on stomach, playing on his phone.

"Isn't that my sweater?" Hoseok asked as he looked at him.

Kihyun looked down at himself. "Oh yeah, I guess it is. I've been meaning to return it to you--"

"It's okay," Hoseok chuckled, "you can keep it. I have, like, five of the same design but in different colors."

"Oh. So... you won't miss it?"

Hoseok shook his head as he sat down next to him. "Nah, it's cool. Does your grandma know you're staying over?"

"Mm-hm." Kihyun nodded. "She's staying out with her bingo friends all night tonight anyways. Some party in a different senior community."

"Senior communities throw parties?"

"Yeah, she took me to one once. It was actually kind of wild. You'd be fucking amazed at the shit old people do for fun."

"I'd... rather not know, actually," Hoseok murmured. He changed the subject quickly, poking Kihyun's plastic wrapped head. "What's that for?"

Kihyun smacked his hand away with a soft glare. "I'm touching up my roots. It's starting to show through the pink."

"Why did you decide to dye your hair pink?"

"Because someone told me I wouldn't."

Hoseok snorted. "That's very you."

Kihyun snickered and sat up. "Hey Hoseok," he said slowly, his eyes glimmering with mischief. "We should dye your hair."

"We're not dyeing my hair."

"Why not?!" Kihyun exclaimed, looking as if he had been offended. "Come on, you'd be such a great blonde!"

"No," Hoseok said sternly, his eyes narrowing. He felt that headache beginning to come on again -- he knew it was only a matter of time before Kihyun brought pain back into his life.

"Okay,  _ fine." _

"Thank you--"

"We'll  _ bleach  _ it blonde."

"Kihyun!"

"Hoseok, I brought all my equipment come on!"

Kihyun eventually managed to convince him to let him dye his hair a softer shade of brown but only because Hoseok wanted him to stop asking. There was absolutely no other reason he gave in, he told himself. It wasn't like the sparkles in Kihyun's eyes as he pleaded made him weaker or anything.

So they both sat in front of Hoseok's couch on their little nest of blankets and pillows, their heads wrapped in tin foil-- pink dye in Kihyun's hair and some bleach in Hoseok's. They looked like a pair of aliens.

"Don't get pink dye on my couch please," Hoseok muttered as they chose a Disney movie to play.

Kihyun shrugged. "I don't know, your couch needs some color."

Hoseok rolled his eyes. “You’re so annoying.”

“I will take that as a compliment, thank you very much.” Kihyun smiled at him and flipped his currently nonexistent hair. 

They ended up choosing Brother Bear because Kihyun said it was an underrated classic and he was offended that Hoseok had never seen it before. And Kihyun laughed the whole time, saying how he was like Koda -- an annoying little brother that gave Kenai hell. And Hoseok couldn’t have agreed more (although, he felt some inner qualms about referring to Kihyun as a little brother figure. He didn’t understand quite why yet.)

Maybe a quarter into the movie, Kihyun got up and headed to the bathroom to rinse his dye out. Hoseok heard his shower run and then soon after his blow dryer and then Kihyun came walking out with a head of freshly fluffed pink hair. 

And suddenly something in Hoseok’s chest kind of sped up and stopped all at once. Because it didn’t quite strike him how small Kihyun looked in his sweater and how cozy he looked in his pajama pants until now. And his skin was squeaky clean and his hair was softly fluffy and everything about him seemed so…  _ attractive, _ at the moment. And the way he hopped back happily to join Hoseok was kind of cute also.

“What?” Kihyun said when he found Hoseok staring.

Hoseok quirked a smile. “Nothing, just-- remember when you met me the first time? And you were wearing like ten piercings on your ear and leather pants.”

“I only had five. But continue.”

“And remember,” Hoseok chuckled, “when I said you weren’t hot?”

Kihyun groaned. “How could I fucking forget? That’s the most rude thing anyone has ever said to me. And after I complimented you also!”

Hoseok laughed at the memory. Those months ago had seemed so distant and now, Kihyun was almost like a family member. “Well, I still don’t think you’re hot.” Kihyun pouted at him and he chuckled. “But... when you walk around my house normally like this without all your piercings in, I guess it’s pretty hot. You’re hotter when you don’t try, you know.”

Kihyun’s hands fiddled together in the big hoodie pocket as he convinced himself that Hoseok couldn’t see the pink blush that he could feel forming on his cheeks. “I’m wearing a retainer and Kermit pajamas,” he said in a steady voice. “Please explain which part of me is hot.”

Hoseok rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to feed into your ego.”

_ “You _ were the one that said I wasn’t hot! So explain how I suddenly am hot to you!” 

“Nevermind, I take it back. You’re not hot, you’re just kind of cute.” 

Kihyun scoffed at him playfully.  _ “Liar,  _ you’re a liar.”

“I know you think  _ I’m _ hot though,” Hoseok said smugly. “And I still am, right?” 

“No.”

“No? But I’m always hot.”

Kihyun narrowed his eyes at him. “You stopped being hot once you stole my weed.” Then his face softened as he shrugged. “But I guess you’ll be a bit hotter with your new hair color.”

“Bro, I look hot in every hair color.”

“We’ll  _ see,” _ Kihyun sang. 

Hoseok chuckled and tapped the tin foil on his head. “So how long do I need to keep this thing on my head again?” 

“Few more minutes. Oh, and speaking of weed,” Kihyun said, running his hand through his pink hair, “when do you plan on paying me back?”  

“What are you talking about, you’ve only got two As out of six. You don’t have straight As.”

Kihyun frowned at him and smacked his arms, frowning harder when Hoseok laughed. “I will once my final report card comes in! And then you’ll have to give me my money because you promised.” 

Hoseok snickered. “And what if I don’t?” 

“Then I seriously won’t leave you alone. I’ll move in with you and pester you every single day until you give me your money.” Kihyun smiled smugly. “And then afterwards I’ll smoke weed around you all day.”

“I thought you said you made weed brownies.”

“I do prefer edibles, but if it annoys you I’ll smoke it. I’ll borrow my friend’s bong.” 

“What an angel you are.”

“And you’re the devil.” But there was light in Kihyun’s eyes and a quirk on the edge of his lips. And Hoseok didn’t feel like he wanted to smack Kihyun up his head when he called him the devil anymore. “Anyways, you should probably rinse your bleach out now. Your color should be good.”  

Kihyun let out an ungodly screech as Hoseok playfully pushed him over as he got up. He glared at him as he bounded off to the restroom to rinse off his bleach. 

“God, you’re the actual devil,” Kihyun hissed as he pushed himself off the ground and back into a sitting position. He continued watching the movie, mildly paying attention to the talking moose on the screen as he played on his phone at the same time. 

He felt himself smirk when seconds later, Hoseok was the one letting out a shriek from the bathroom. Paying no heed, he kept playing a game on his phone until Hoseok came rushing out, his hair wet and his eyes wide and appalled. 

“Kihyun!” he shouted and Kihyun finally looked up. “What the fuck?!” 

Hoseok’s hair was still dripping in tendrils, the only difference being that instead of the soft brown that Kihyun promised, it was platinum blonde. 

“Oh, I kind of let you keep the bleach in a little longer than normal.”

“I told you I wasn’t going to go blonde!” Hoseok screamed, scandalized. “You tricked me!”

Kihyun snickered as he regarded him casually. “Okay, but I was right -- you really are a hot blonde.” Hoseok only groaned and went back the bathroom to blow dry his hair out. Kihyun laughed at him and called out, “You have to admit, I did you a favor.”

“You did not!” he yelled back.

“I did! You’re fifty times hotter blonde, you know?” Kihyun laughed out loud as Hoseok came back with dry hair and a massive pout. “Come on, you can’t deny you look hot as shit.”

“I look like I listen to music with profanities!” 

Kihyun nearly rolled his eyes. “Ex-fucking- _ scuse _ me?” He sighed and pulled a blanket over his legs. “You’re not hot anymore.  _ Again.”  _

Hoseok groaned as he sat down next to him and stole the blanket away. “Asshole,” he grumbled. “I hate you.”

“But you love me!” Kihyun sang with a bright grin. 

“I guess,” he muttered in annoyance. “Except I really don’t.”

“Except you really do!” Kihyun giggled happily as he flopped over to lay his head down in Hoseok’s lap. He looked up at him innocently and whispered, “I know I’m your favorite student you’ve ever had.” 

Hoseok rolled his eyes and flung the blanket over Kihyun’s face. “You’re my only student,” he deadpanned as Kihyun scrambled to get the blanket off his face. 

“That’s the point!” he said when his head popped out. His grin was so bright, Hoseok had a hard time ignoring it. “Come on,” Kihyun whispered coyly, his eyes forming sharp crescents. “Aren’t I the best?”

“No,” Hoseok sighed. “You’re the most annoying shit head I’ve ever met in my entire life.” 

“You could have gotten rid of me really quickly if you had just given me the money!” Kihyun sang.

“You’re such a fucker.” 

Kihyun made a face and took Hoseok’s hand into his. “Sounds like you’re being a big baby.”

“Why are you holding my hand?”

“Because you’re pouting and obviously need to be comforted.” Kihyun snickered to himself. “Because you’re being a giant baby.” He reached up and stroked Hoseok’s cheeked and patronizingly cooed, “Is Hoseok throwing a tantrum?”

“You literally told me baby talk was stupid and yet you still do it,” Hoseok snapped, swatting Kihyun’s hand away violently. 

“Okay you big baby,” Kihyun sighed, shifting his head in his lap to turn towards the television screen, “don’t appreciate the fact that I made you blonde and hot as fuck. Don’t appreciate that I gave you Robert, the greatest thing to ever grace our lives. Don’t appreciate the things I do for you and watch the movie. Kenai and Koda just got the salmon run.” 

Hoseok only sighed but he didn’t let go of Kihyun’s hand. Instead, he rearranged the grip to lace their fingers instead and he figured this time, they both took notice of how warm each other’s hands were. 

Kihyun fell fast asleep about three movies later in the middle of Wreck-It-Ralph and Hoseok took a second to really look at Kihyun. He looked sweet when he slept. Pink hair, soft skin and plush cheeks -- he was cute. And his fingers twitched from time to time in the loose grip he held in Hoseok’s hand. 

Hoseok reached down and carded his hands through Kihyun’s hair just to feel it and he let out a small sigh. He wondered what would really happen after he gave Kihyun his money.

  
  
  
  
  


“Happy Holidays!” Hoseok said as the last customer left the pizza parlor. With a relieved sigh, he turned to Hyunwoo who was already closing up the kitchen. “Thank goodness the holiday rush will be over.”

“Holiday rush,” Hyunwoo snickered, “Hoseok, we’re a pizza parlor not a retail store. No one’s coming to us for last minute gifts.”

Hoseok shrugged. “Yeah, but there’s lots of kids on break now and they all want their quick pizza fix. But not anymore because we’re going to close for the holidays!” He let out a cheer and threw his arms over Hyunwoo excitedly. “Can you believe the boss is willing to close down so his employees can enjoy Christmas? What a saint.” 

Hyunwoo chuckled, “Yeah, it’s definitely a privilege. My sister has to work on Christmas Eve, can you believe that? Her boss won’t give her the day off. So we’re going to wait for her to get home before we eat dinner and open presents.”

“At least you get to hang with you family. My parents just ditched my brother and I,” Hoseok snorted.

“Oh yeah, doesn’t your brother go to university somewhere farther than you?”

Hoseok nodded. “Yeah, so he’s staying up at his dorm also. I’m spending Christmas with Kihyun and his grandma.” His face broke into a grin. “Kihyun’s coming over in a few days to cook and wrap presents.”

Hyunwoo took off his apron and raised an eyebrow at him. “He is?”

“Yeah.” Hoseok smiled.

“He still hangs around you even though it’s break?”

Hoseok nodded “Yeah. Is that weird or something?”

“A little, I suppose. How did he do on his finals, by the way?” Hyunwoo asked.

“Really well, actually! He tested great on his finals and they all boosted his final grades up to As.” 

“Have you,” Hyunwoo continued, “paid him back yet?”

Hoseok’s smile faded as he hung up his apron in the back. “...No,” he murmured. 

“Do you think maybe that’s why he hangs out with you so much?” Hyunwoo asked. “Because you always tell me how much of a loser he thinks you are.”

“I’ve… never thought about it that way,” Hoseok mused.

Hyunwoo shrugged. “Just some food for thought. I mean, otherwise you would be spending time together because you  _ liked  _ each other.”

Hoseok laughed with a scoff. “Yeah, and we don’t like each other. We’re just some good bros, that’s all.”

“Mm-hm, you’ve told me that before.” Hyunwoo regarded him closely before saying, “Honestly Hoseok, if you like his company -- and I know you do -- you should probably ask him what his intentions are now. Because if he just wants the money, after you give it to him, he’ll most likely be gone.”

“...Oh,” Hoseok said to himself dumbly.

  
  
  
  
  


The prospect of Kihyun only hanging around him because he hadn’t paid him back bothered Hoseok to a certain extent. He wasn’t quite sure why, because it’s not like he and Kihyun had a relationship where they needed to like each other. Maybe it was the idea that Kihyun had to bear being around him just to get his money that made Hoseok uncomfortable. But he shoved it into the back of his mind -- maybe he’d bring it up later, but for now, it wasn’t that important.

At least, it wasn’t important when Kihyun had come over with his arms full of groceries and shiny wrapping paper. Hoseok didn’t remember what Christmas time from his childhood smelled like but when Kihyun came, it’s like he suddenly remembered. Because Kihyun scurried around his house in an ugly sweater with crocheted reindeers while cooking food that smelled amazing as Hoseok was wrapping up boxes on the floor and old Christmas songs played in the background. 

“Do you always cook Christmas dinner?” Hoseok asked as he snipped some sparkling green paper. 

Kihyun glanced at him from the counter, where he was mixing stuffing with his hands. “Well, grandma used to but after a while, I figured I should pick it up so she wouldn’t have to work as hard. And don’t tell her, but her fruitcake is absolutely awful.” 

Hoseok laughed. “You’re so mean, Kihyun.”

“It’s not mean, it’s the truth!” But Kihyun laughed along anyways. “Also, she says she’s excited to meet you tomorrow. She’s excited to meet just about anyone who could turn my grades around.”

“On the contrary, I did nothing,” Hoseok said matter-of-factly. “You turned yourself around, not me.”

Kihyun rolled his eyes. “Shut up.” 

With a snicker, Hoseok then asked, “All I did was steal your weed and here we are! You should thank me.”

“Forget about that,” the other snorted. He set the stuffing aside and pulled out a pair of gloves to pull a tray of cookies out of the oven. Half were gingerbread men, waiting to be decorated and the other half were plain sugar cookies. Setting the gingerbread men aside, he piled the sugar cookies onto a plate and carried it to Hoseok then sat down beside him. “Cookie?” he offered.

Hoseok plucked on off of the pile and hummed as the warm dessert practically melted in his mouth. “I wish my house smelled like this all the time,” he murmured.

“Invite me over more often,” Kihyun joked, biting a cookie for himself. “Or come over to my place. I’m constantly cooking now that the holidays are here. Grandma’s friends love the cookies.” 

“Can’t blame them,” Hoseok said with a smile. “Your baking skills are out of this world.” 

Hoseok could’ve sworn Kihyun blushed at that statement before he replied, “Well, one of us has to be a good cook. Because you definitely won’t survive off of your skills.”

“Leave my skills out of this!”

Kihyun laughed as he pulled a present into his lap and began wrapping it. He tied the ribbon off proudly and said, “This one is for Robert! I got him a cool pirate ship -- but don’t tell him.” 

“I don’t need to tell him, Kihyun, he’s a fish.”

“Fish or not, he deserves to be spoiled also!” Kihyun exclaimed. He stood up and held out his hand to Hoseok. “Come on, let’s decorate the gingerbread men. They should be cool now.”

“Spoil Robert all you want,” Hoseok said as he followed Kihyun to the kitchen. Kihyun handed him a little icing bag and a few cookie men to draw on. “But it would be nice if you didn’t use my credit card to spoil him.

Kihyun snickered as he began piping small designs. “I _ suppose,” _ he sighed playfully. “If you gave me my money back, I wouldn’t need to spend yours!”

Something in Hoseok deflated at that comment and he couldn’t bring himself to decorate the gingerbread man. Kihyun found nothing wrong though, instead piping several and then holding one up for Hoseok to see, saying _ Look, it’s you!  _ while smiling brightly. And something about this entire evening struck Hoseok as too good to be true. Kihyun was too cute and too warm and too domestic and Hoseok knew it couldn’t possibly be something that could last. Not for him, anyways. 

Because Kihyun was just waiting for his money. There was no other reason for him to hang around for this long. Especially now since Kihyun no longer truly needed a tutor -- he was completely capable of studying on his own now.

So even though Hoseok told himself it didn’t really bother him, he couldn’t help but ask Kihyun now in the warmth of the moment.

“Kihyun,” he said, “are you just hanging out with me because I haven’t paid you back?”

Kihyun’s hands froze in the air as his eyebrows furrowed. “...What?” he whispered .

“Don’t play dumb, bro,” Hoseok said with a large sigh. “I know I haven’t given you the money yet. And if you feel bad for me or something, you’re really not obligated to pity me.”

“What do you mean by  _ feel bad for you,” _ Kihyun repeated with a narrow of his eyes.

Hoseok set down his piping bag and said, “I’m spending Christmas alone and you probably feel bad that you’re just going to leave me after I give you the money anyways!”

“That’s not--!”

“You really don’t have to pity me, Kihyun,” Hoseok sighed. “I know you’re just waiting for the money. I  _ know  _ you think I’m a loser.”

“Well yeah, that’s because you  _ are  _ a loser!”

“So why are you still hanging out with me?!” Hoseok exclaimed. “You should’ve just asked me for the money once you got your report card.” 

“Is  _ that  _ what you think?” Kihyun asked, his tone suddenly cold. “That I hang around you just because I want my money back?”

Hoseok huffed. “What else could it be?! You’ve made it clear that I’m not exactly your favorite person.”

“I never--!”

“Honestly Kihyun, just ask for the money and go, bro, don’t hang around me if you feel bad!” 

And Hoseok thought Kihyun would have said something back angrily, but what he didn’t expect was for Kihyun to reach forward and grab him by collar with both hands as he pulled him down for a kiss. Kihyun’s lips were soft and everything that Hoseok could’ve imagined but he was too off guard to really enjoy it before Kihyun was pulling away indignantly.

“First of all,” Kihyun snapped, uninterested in anything Hoseok had to say, “stop fucking call me bro. It’s not cool when you do it you fucking loser.”

“Um--”

_ “Second of all!”  _ Kihyun said louder. “I  _ like  _ you!” He stared at the blank look on Hoseok’s face for two more seconds before rolling his eyes and muttering, “You know, you’re pretty dumb for a smart person.”

Hoseok stood there dumbly in shock because he hadn’t expected this. But at the same time, he should have seen this coming! He didn’t know Kihyun had felt this way the whole time, yet he felt as though he should have. Because if he were honest, that would explain all the bright smiles and warm touches but Hoseok still couldn’t believe that Kihyun liked him. 

So dumbly he stammered, “I’m sorry, what?”

“I said you’re pretty dumb for a smart person.”

“No, before that.”

Kihyun frowned. “Stop fucking calling me bro.”

“No, no, no, no,” Hoseok said as he took Kihyun’s hand into his and smiled gently, “after that.”

Kihyun positively bristled in his spot, his frown deepening as he shouted, “I said I fucking  _ like  _ you, you  _ dweeb!”  _

And it was quiet for a few more seconds before Hoseok let out a giggle that could be likened to a school girl and sang, “Oh my god,  _ you like me?” _ The smile on his face was infuriatingly stupid.

Kihyun’s cheeks flushed a deep red as he smacked Hoseok in the shoulder. “If you’re going to act like this, I won’t tell you next time!”

And Kihyun looked so cute when he blushed that Hoseok had no choice but to hold his soft cheeks between his hands and kiss him again. Except this time Hoseok could kiss him properly and Kihyun received it so well. He took the time to softly lick at his lips and bite them as softly as possible before pulling away, feeling drunk on nothing.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered, patting Kihyun’s head affectionately, “you don’t need to tell me twice.” 

Kihyun blushed furiously and buried his face into Hoseok’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around his waist. “I hate you,” he murmured. “You’re an idiot. I actually hate you, you’re so stupid, you dumb fuck.”

Hoseok chuckled. “Your hair matches your cheeks.”

“Shut up,” Kihyun groaned.

With a loud, warm laugh, Hoseok placed a kiss on the top of his head and hugged him back tightly. “I love you, dude.”

“Please don’t call me dude anymore.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll call you babe.” 

“I changed my mind, dude was better.”

Hoseok raised his eyebrows. “Dude babe?” 

Kihyun glared up at him and huffed, “Hoseok stop, holy shit.”

So Hoseok just grinned happily and pulled Kihyun back to rub his cheek all over his head, much to Kihyun’s aggressive protesting. “Kay babe,” he chirped.

  
  
  
  
  


“Do you know how many times my friends ask to see you?” 

“How many?”

“Like, they’ve passed the acceptable amount already.” Kihyun pouted as he sat in Hoseok’s lap, content with the other’s arms around his waist securely. “And I told him you weren’t tutoring me anymore, that you dated me instead and they just about fucking lost it.”

Becoming boyfriends really ended up not being all that different to how they were before they both realized they liked each other. Except it was also extremely different because now Hoseok could kiss his cheeks and his lips and hug him whenever he wanted. And everything about Kihyun seemed so much cuter now that he was Hoseok’s boyfriend despite his still overwhelmingly dirty potty mouth.

“They keep saying I’m into older men and some shit.”

“But you are -- I’m twenty one.” Hoseok snickered as Kihyun continued.

“Three years does not constitute me being in older men! You’re just a  _ bit  _ older.”

Hoseok leaned up to kiss Kihyun’s cheeks. “Oh man, you’re so cute.”

“You know, a few months ago you thought I was the spawn of Satan.”

“You still are.” Hoseok kissed him again. “You’re just cute now is all.” Kihyun giggled as Hoseok licked his neck. But after a moment, he grew quiet and Hoseok played with some strands of his hair. “What is it, baby?”

“So…” Kihyun cleared his throat loudly. “Um, about that drug money--”

“I’m going to tell you to shut up now.”

“No, no!” Kihyun insisted, though the gaze in his eyes was bright. “I’m not going to use it for weed, I swear! I don’t need that shit anymore. You just still kind of owe me the money--”

_ “Please,”  _ Hoseok said tiredly. “Do you know how much money I have spent on things for you -- like  _ Robert,  _ for example? I’ve basically paid you back in favors.”

Kihyun fiddled with his hands and quietly said, “...I’m going to need the money for college apps, though…”

And the gasp and squeal Hoseok let out was so gross that Kihyun almost broke up with him on the spot. “Babe!” he shouted excitedly. “You’re going to college! Baby!”

“Well, I’m  _ trying,” _ Kihyun replied, flustered. “If you’d just give me back my money for apps!”

“Oh my god,  _ baaaaaabe!”  _ Hoseok cooed affectionately, nuzzling his face into Kihyun’s neck. “I’ll pay for your college apps, how about that?”

“Well, uh… I’m still going to need the rest of the money,” Kihyun muttered, “so I can buy us tickets to, um… prom.” 

Hoseok’s mouth dropped into an open grin, a gasp coming from his mouth as he covered it with one hand. “Kihyun,” he squeaked excitedly. “Babe, you’re going to take me to prom?!” He squeezed Kihyun tightly and kissed all over his cheeks.

“Stop,” Kihyun whined. “Hoseokkie, stop, please.”

“A PET NAME,” Hoseok exclaimed happily. “Babe, I love you so much.”

“If you don’t stop, I’ll start calling you dude again!”

But despite Kihyun threatening him over and over, Hoseok never stopped and Kihyun never called him dude again. Besides, who else could Kihyun hold hands with and kiss while still complaining about how his  _ annoying friends won’t leave me alone about my new college boyfriend.  _ He told Hoseok that he’d introduce him to his friends at prom and that he was not looking forward to it. But Hoseok promised to be his best and make his annoying friends jealous that they didn’t have a cool college boyfriend like him.

So when prom did roll around, Kihyun and Hoseok were prepared in their matching ties and pink corsages. Kihyun thought they looked like candy, with their bright pink and blonde hair combination. Kihyun had come over to Hoseok’s early to get ready and so that Hoseok could drive them to the designated area that most of the class would be going for pre-prom pictures (and pre-prom drinking.) 

“You know, I’m surprise you’re not more anal about this,” Kihyun said, smoothing out Hoseok’s tie. “You were so on my ass about doing drugs but you also don’t bat a single eyelash at underage drinking.”

Hoseok shrugged. “I’ve done a fair share of underage drinking myself so I can’t call you out on it. What kind of hypocrite would that make me?”

“Completely unfair.” Kihyun shook his head. “I can drink but I can’t make some bomb ass weed brownies.”

“Not as long as I’m around,” Hoseok said with a wink and Kihyun rolled his eyes.

But Kihyun grinned as he turned to look at them both in Hoseok’s hallway mirror. Hoseok looped his arms around him, resting his chin on Kihyun’s shoulder as he whispered, “We look hot,” into Kihyun’s ear.

Kihyun shivered and nodded. “Yeah, we do. Sorry prom king, but we’ve got the looks covered.” He giggled as Hoseok bit his ear playfully. “Seokki, stop, if you keep this up we’re going to be late.”

“We’re going two hours early,” Hoseok murmured as he pressed his lips to Kihyun’s neck.

Kihyun replied with, “To get the best outdoor lighting!” 

Hoseok spun him around coyly and gently pressed him against the wall. Resting his hands on either side of Kihyun’s head, he murmured, “I’m sure coming a little late wouldn’t hurt anyone.” 

He started pressing wet kisses to Kihyun’s neck and Kihyun couldn’t find anything to complain about. Hoseok’s lips were soft and fluttery like little butterflies and he laughed airily every time Hoseok pecked him.

“You’re so cute, babe,” Hoseok whispered as he left a soft kiss on his nose.

Kihyun grinned as he slipped his arms around Hoseok’s neck and his fingers into Hoseok’s hair. “I could’ve told you that,” he said as he leaned up for a kiss.

Hoseok could safely say that the best part about dating Kihyun was probably being able to kiss him. Whether it was soft kisses, or kisses like this where they got a little more creative with their tongues, Hoseok loved it all. 

Until suddenly Kihyun broke away with a gasp and an annoying smile on his face. “Hoseok! Cover the tank, Robert is going to see!” 

Hoseok didn’t quite love that Kihyun was still such a shit head though. “Kihyun, Robert is not going to see. Robert can barely see past his own reflection.”

“Stop disrespecting my son!”

“Our son,  _ our  _ son!” 

  
  
  
  
  


It turned out that despite Kihyun’s drug history, he had no alcohol history. And Hoseok was horrified to find out only later that this was Kihyun’s first time drinking and Hoseok had watched him without worry because he thought Kihyun had experience. It wasn’t really until Kihyun was screaming on the dance floor that Hoseok realized that it was his first time getting absolutely wasted. 

That, and Kihyun’s friends told him that it was Kihyun’s first time drinking and Hoseok suddenly felt like an irresponsible boyfriend. And he knew he couldn’t take Kihyun back to his grandmother like this -- not when he was a blubbering mess. So instead he took him back to his place after telling his grandma and hauled him through the door messily.

“Holy shit, Kihyun,” Hoseok heaved under his breath as they stumbled inside. 

“Please help me,” Kihyun cried, tears running down his face. Hoseok would have been more concerned if he wasn’t completely out of his mind drunk. “I’ve lost my son, you have to help me!” 

Hoseok lugged him inside and kicked his shoes off. “You haven’t lost anyone,” he said, “calm down.”

“Please!” Kihyun begged, arms hanging off Hoseok. “Have you seen my son?! Please, anyone!” 

Hoseok set him down on the couch and took Kihyun’s shoes off for him, grunting about how he was never going to let him drink again if _ this  _ was how he was going to be every time. But Kihyun cried into his hands, his shoulders and voice shaking.

“Have you seen my son?” he asked Hoseok miserably.

“Yes, I’ve seen your son, he’s in the tank, damn it--”

“He’s like  _ this  _ big and he’s so ugly, he can’t live without me!” Kihyun sobbed, throwing his body over Hoseok.

Hoseok grunted, “Oh my go-- Kihyun, you picked him out!” He yelled as he lifted Kihyun up and threw him over his shoulder. 

“Yeah, well, it’s your fault! Your his father, he got your genes!” Kihyun cried into Hoseok’s back. “It’s your fault he’s so ugly he can’t live!”

“First of all, Kihyun, Robert is a  _ fish!”  _ Hoseok said as he carried Kihyun to his room. He paused halfway there, his eyebrows suddenly furrowing. “And I’m  _ not  _ ugly!” 

Kihyun gasped as Hoseok plopped him down onto his bed. “You’re right,” he said in wonder, reaching up to hold Hoseok’s face. “You’re beautiful baby!” And he started crying again.

“God, you’re an actual mess,” Hoseok grumbled as Kihyun pulled him down onto the bed with him. 

Hoseok had kind of wanted to change them both out of their suits, but with Kihyun clinging onto him so tightly without a single piece of mind, Hoseok figured it was best if they just lay there. And Kihyun fell asleep eventually despite his choking cries. He snored softly as he lay on Hoseok’s chest, his cheeks wet with ridiculous tears as his fingers curled into Hoseok’s jacket. 

Hoseok sighed as he carded his hand through Kihyun’s pink head of hair. “Oh baby,” he murmured tiredly, “you’re going to be the death of me.” 

Because despite Kihyun being his official, wonderful boyfriend who baked him cookies, he was still very much his annoying, piece of shit boyfriend who gave him the same headache over and over. Because at the end of the day, Kihyun was a  self appraising, high opinionated, good for nothing highschooler with five piercings on one ear and was nothing short of intimidating at his towering height of five feet and nine inches. Kihyun and his obnoxiously bright pink head of hair that belonged nowhere near a model citizen such as Hoseok. 

Kihyun stirred in his sleep, waking up with a sniffle as he gazed at Hoseok through bleary eyes. “B-Babe,” he whined, his lower lip quivering like he was going to cry again. 

“What is it, sweetheart?” Hoseok asked softly, moving his hand to rub Kihyun’s back soothingly.

Kihyun’s face scrunched as he started crying again. “I want to have another kid with you,” he sniffed. 

“What?” Hoseok asked as if Kihyun would make any sense of him.

“I want to-to adopt an axolotl and name him Amadeus and he’ll be our beautiful kid and he’ll live with Robert in his tank and-and-” 

“Shh, okay, okay,” Hoseok hushed with a light laugh. “We can do all that baby, all in due time.” 

“You promise?” Kihyun sniffled as his eyelids began to droop again.

Hoseok hummed and nodded. “I promise, baby,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to Kihyun’s forehead. 

Kihyun fell asleep again after that and Hoseok realized that the best feeling in the world was breathing with the weight of Kihyun on his chest. There was nothing more attractive than his stupid bubblegum hair and sparkling eyes of spunk and mischief. Kihyun was an enormous handful on his own and he would never stop. He was his own force of nature that would never stop calling Hoseok a nerd or giving him a headache. Kihyun would never stop and he would never apologize and as much as it tired out Hoseok, something about his spirit was always going to energize him at the same time.

So as Hoseok began drifting off to sleep,, with one hand laced in Kihyun’s hair and his other hand place warmly and securely on Kihyun’s waist, he figured -- yeah, Kihyun was very well going to be the death of him. Kihyun, in all his glory, would eventually kill him someday.

But when Hoseok woke up groggy the next morning, the smell of breakfast made by that pretentious, potty mouthed, pink haired punk waking up his senses, he smiled.

And he realized, yeah, Kihyun would be the death of him.

But he supposed he wouldn’t want it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LOVE, MY SOULMATE, MY OLD FRIEND IRI 
> 
> i love u iri, u deserve the world and i'm going to say it one more time: i'm so happy kiho brought us back together! thanks for making my transition into the monbebe fic world so smooth and introducing me to other great authors ; v ; i love u so much, ur my favorite and the most beautiful -- uR IRIPLACEABLE!
> 
> so yes for ur bday i brought that dumbass headcanon we thought of to life and this was not supposed to get this long but !!! story of my life. 
> 
> hope everyone enjoyed! <333 also hmu on twitter @_pokiwon
> 
> one more happy 20th bday to my girl iri, ily the most but u know that


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